A STATUE in the town centre is still covered in bird droppings - though the council have vowed to clean it once the need for a nearby vaccination centre has ceased.

In May, the Lancashire Telegraph told of how 65-year-old George Davies, from Blackburn, was furious that the Queen Victoria statue on Blackburn Boulevard, described as 'a fantastic piece of iconography' had been allowed to deteriorate into 'one big black defecation'.

At the time, Blackburn with Darwen Council said that they were 'aware' the statue needed cleaning, though no date was specified as to when that would happen.

After an update was requested, a council spokesperson said: "Cleaning of the Queen Victoria statue will be scheduled in when we are able to access the area fully.

"Until the fencing needed for the vaccination centre at Blackburn Cathedral, which runs seven-days-a-week from 8.30am to 7.30pm, can be removed, there will not be enough access for the equipment needed for the cleaning or to maintain social distancing from people coming for their vaccinations."

Queen Victoria's statue has had something of a chequered past in the town, having previously been daubed in racist graffiti and then threatened with removal when the Cathedral Quarter project began in 2013.