A COUNCILLOR raised fears Blackburn with Darwen could miss out on developer cash if building work was allowed to start on the Sappi Paper Mill site without an agreement being reached.

Cllr Derek Hardman expressed concerns that there would be nothing stopping Blackburn Waterside Regeneration from building houses and selling them then walking away without paying any Section 106 cash to the local authority.

But council planning manager Gavin Prescott said it was normal practice to receive phased payments rather than getting the cash in one lump sum.

And members agreed to vary the Section 106 agreement in order to proceed with the formal discharge of condition applications and begin work on the first 96 homes due to be built on the site.

The mix of detached and semi-detached houses with short terraces is the first phase of a 500-property estate off Preston Old Road in Feniscowles, Blackburn.

On Boxing Day 2015 much of the former Sappi Paper Mill site was covered with flood water.

This led Blackburn with Darwen Council regeneration boss Cllr Phil Riley to promise drainage would be a major factor in considering future planning applications.

The area covered by the new detailed submission, known as The Meadows, is at the Livesey Branch Road end of the proposed development away from the former mill buildings and River Darwen.

It will include 20 two-bedroomed housees, 31 three-bedroomed homes, 37 four-bedroomed properties and eight luxury homes with five bedrooms.

The Sappi Paper Mill closed in 2008 and was demolished in the summer of 2012. Its 140ft high chimney was brought down by specialist steeplejacks in February 2016.

The overall Stanworth Waters site will be developed in five separate parcels.

There will be a new access highway called Stanworth Park Road linking Livesey Branch Road and Moulden Brow and improved access for walkers to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the Raddlesworth River.

It includes a woodland play area, informal recreation spaces, footpaths, and woodland improvements.