Anti-Tithebarn move prompts city legal probe
Town Hall chiefs in Preston have asked legal experts to examine whether attempts by Blackburn to "generate objections" to the city's Tithebarn rebirth are unlawful.
Advisors to the city's civic bosses will investigate whether any action can be taken after the president of Blackburn's Chamber of Trade and the regeneration boss at the town's council distributed a letter urging others to object to the 700m project.
The letters "urged" them to send objections to Preston Council. It even enclosed a 'model letter' addressed to Preston's development director.
Several Lancashire councils and chambers of trade were contacted by Blackburn's regeneration boss Alan Cottam and chamber president David Cottam.
The letter also appeared in at least one weekly newspaper in Merseyside.
Now Preston Council chief executive Jim Carr says the authority is looking into what action it can take.
He said: "We were already taking the issues raised very seriously and are checking with our advisors to find out whether Blackburn's actions in seeking to generate third party objections to Tithebarn are lawful.
"We are concerned that they are trying to alarm people and thereby create potential objections to Tithebarn that would otherwise not be made."
The council's director of development Peter Kuit said the council's barrister, who was taken on to make sure there were no problems with the project's detailed planning application, had been made aware of the letters.
He said: "We are taking legal advice. It is unfortunate because the letter is alarming traders unnecessarily.
"Preston is not, for example, in competition with somewhere like Darwen."
He added that the council would take any objections which came in "very seriously".
There are worries that objections to the scheme from Blackburn and Blackpool councils could lead to a Government 'call-in', which might delay the project by a year.
>> Fury at neighbour's campaign against Tithebarn
>> Minister Straw's 'crackers' Tithebarn remarks
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Weather for Preston
Thursday 29 July 2010
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Cloudy
Temperature: 15 C to 17 C
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