Phil Ainsworth, a spokesperson for Blackburn Town Centre Partnerships was on the news last night following the decision to let the Tithebarn development to go ahead in Preston. This means that £700 million will be spent to revitalise the shopping centre in Preston and as you can imaging, neighbouring towns are not particularly happy about this including Blackburn.
Phil was disappointed but said there were a lot of positives to come out of the report for Blackburn The inspector supported Blackburn's (and Blackpool's) claim that the development will harm their own business but Eric Pickles thought it would not adversely affect the other towns.
It seems so obvious to me that Eric is wrong. A wonderful revamp of Preston is bound to adversely affect neighbouring towns. However I think his decision is correct. We can't stop upgrading our towns and cities simply because we harm neighbouring business. This is a recipe for stagnation.
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