BUSINESS people are calling for action to save a town centre shopping street from "disappearing."

Tim Melia, the director of Melbro Group Ltd, which has owned property on Bridge Street, Darwen, for almost 30 years, said he was concerned by the number of vacant shops on the street, some of which have been empty for years.

He wants Blackburn with Darwen Council to help rejuvenate the area before the town is "left with streets full of hot food takeaways and empty units ripe for vandalism and graffiti."

Work to enhance the town centre is one of the aims of the Lancashire Telegraph's We're Backing Darwen Campaign.

He said: "I recall when I first became involved in Melbro in the early 1980s; a time when shops were unoccupied for only a matter of weeks at most.

"Bridge Street has now been closed off under the new road layout at the Circus.

"Frankly, this simply appears to have made matters more difficult for local businesses and completely killed off passing trade.

"I am at a loss as to what the solution is but some assistance from the local authority might be helpful.

"As an example, from April 1 2008 landlords are faced with full business rates on vacant properties, presumably as some sort of incentive to get premises let.

"All it does is serve to punish commercial landlords of this type of property who are struggling to find tenants.

"Perhaps turning an area such as Bridge Street into some kind of rate free enterprise zone for a period of time may help attract traders."

Andrew McAllister, president of Darwen Chamber of Trade, said he agreed with the idea.

He said: "All market towns need encouragement to get new business.

"I think the idea of a low or rate-free area would be very advantageous and I could certainly go along with it.

"Bridge Street has always been a problem ever since they stopped the traffic flowing through there years ago.

"I believe that if the council acted with a little foresight now to encourage new businesses, then the area will be booming when the academy opens in a couple of years time."

Adam Scott, strategic director of regeneration and environment at Blackburn with Darwen Council said that the council had no ability to waive business rates that it collects on behalf of the government.

He said: "The Darwen Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) does have funding towards repairs and enhancement of properties in Bridge Street.

"We already have some expressions of interest and we will be looking to develop co-coordinated property improvement schemes as soon as possible.

"We also expect the street to benefit significantly from the opening of the Academy being built on the Redearth Triangle site.

"In terms of supporting new businesses, they can apply to the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI) Get Set programme, which gives a maximum of £2,500 to help with set up costs."