A TWO-day commission into the future of town hall services in Chorley has promoted the case for change.

Council chiefs have been pressing the case for the borough to 'go it alone', like neighbouring Blackburn, and become a unitary authority.

And a public meeting, featuring a former head of the Northwest Development Agency, has agreed that, with Chorley and similar authorities facing a range of financial and organisational challenges, that the status quo is not an option.

Cllr Alistair Bradley, borough council leader, said: "We face some really tough challenges in the future and the idea of this commission is to look at how we can do things differently to improve the service residents get, not just from the council, but all the other providers in the borough.

"It was interesting to hear how everyone was in agreement that we can’t go on as we are and that things need to change and we’ve already got some ideas about what we can do and we will get on with these straight away."

The commission has been staged amid ongoing talks over creating an all-encompassing council for Lancashire, or even a stand-alone authority for East Lancashire alone.

Prof Steve Broomhead, ex-NWDA head and now Warrington Council chief executive, added: "It was a really interesting couple of days and I think it is fantastic that Chorley Council is doing this work.

"It's refreshing to see a local authority willing to put itself forward and it shows the level of ambition of the borough to be looking at not just what works for the organisations but what is the best for Chorley and the people who live and work there."

The commission will now produce a final report with recommendations to the council.