Darwen: Punching above its weight

Wayne Wild pulls no punches when he talks about the impact the £25m Darwen Town Deal will have on a part of east Lancashire already “punching above its weight”.

Darwen will use the funding to underpin its ambitious £116m investment plan which aims to generate and safeguard more than 600 jobs and create or assist more than 200 businesses.

“It will be truly transformational,” says Wayne, who chairs the board that has secured the cash.

He adds: “Given the size of Darwen, we are clearly punching well above our economic weight to have secured the maximum amount of government funding available.”