REVENUE from parking charges in Blackburn with Darwen halved in 2020.

The Lancashire Telegraph submitted a Freedom of Information request to Blackburn with Darwen Council about the amount of money the authority received from parking charges.

In total it received £260,795.25 between January and December 1 which was down from £592,133.55 in 2019 - but that figure was the highest in three years.

In 2018, the council received £455,208.95 while the previous year it raised £443,474.05.

Meanwhile, the most popular car park in the town was Brown Street.

The new 120-space park on Brown Street, opened in June 2018, brought in £81,468.90 - down from £172,111.05 the previous year.

Feilden Street was the second highest earner with £68,943.50 in 2020, a fall from £114.201.15.

Also claiming third spot for the third consecutive year was Barton Street which pulled in £40,933.65 (down from (£91,681.75).

However, the fourth highest grossing park in 2020 was Old Bank Lane with (£16,497) while Fleming Square (£12,073) took a place in the top five.

It showed a change from 2019 when Duke Street raised £39,458.55 while Weir Street took £27,047.40.

Cllr Phil Riley, regeneration boss, believes the move to turn Brown Street into a car park has paid off.

He said: “I think it was always sensible to bring that area into use because of the proximity to The Mall and shopping area.

“It seems to me a bit wrong that we did not make use of that central location and it looks like we had run out of ambition which is not true and it has worked.

“We are just looking forward to the time when people can come back to that car park and it being full again with people shopping there.”