A LAST-DITCH rescue bid to save the Darwen three-day market from demolition has failed.

Blackburn with Darwen councillors voted to accept the original decision to knock it down despite an attempt to save the building on Wednesday night.

Cllr David Foster, backed by five Liberal Democrat and Conservative Darwen councillors, attempted to convince the council to reconsider its controversial plan at a special call-in committee meeting.

Traders who attended the meeting were in uproar at some of the statements made, with ex-town councillor Brenda Cronshaw saying she was “sick of the lies and deceit” before storming out of the room.

Cllr Neil Slater also offered up a “positive” alternative of turning the building into a charitable trust.

But regeneration boss Cllr Phil Riley, who produced the original report in February recommending the demolition, said that he did not hear anything during the meeting to suggest that money should be invested in the current building.

He said: “We have got a market that is obsolete and dying on its feet.

“I believe that Darwen can do better. I see no logical reason why we would want to spend money on the current building.

“If people choose to disbelieve this council’s intentions then that is their choice, but we have had a serious set of conversations with the people of Darwen and produced artist’s impressions of the future.”

Cllr Foster set out four reasons why he believed the decision was “flawed” and was being made “too early” .

He said: “No consultations were undertaken with the public or traders on the closure and demolition of the market, only on the future of the site.

“No alternative ways of running the three-day market were examined and no study on the retail needs of Darwen were undertaken.

“No information was provided on the impact of closure and demolition on the rest of the town centre.”

Cllr Slater asked Cllr Riley if traders had been given the option of running a charitable trust in the building instead of having it knocked down, and he admitted they had not.

Cllr Slater said: “My main point is that traders were not given this alternative of running the building as a charitable trust themselves.”

“I want the council to consider giving this a go without just knocking it down.

“Darwen is a market and mill town, and we are all proud of that and I do not believe that knocking down this market is the answer to Darwen’s retail problems.”

The six-day market and annexe will stay open as normal.