The council is 'on a tightrope' over the closure of the town centre Marks & Spencer store, leader Martyn Cox said as a possible date for when it shuts was announced.

M&S announced the closure of the Bolton Deansgate store last month in response to 'changing shopping habits'.

In an update to Bolton Council earlier this month, the assistant director of the place directorate Paul Whittingham confirmed the lease on the site, which the authority owns as a part of its plan for Crompton Place, runs for another four years.

M&S is responsible for the rent in this period, although the plan is for it to close in April, Mr Whittingham said.

Although the lease runs for another four years, with the income assured from this legal agreement, councillors shared concerns over the site.

READ MORE: Bolton: Deansgate Marks & Spencer set to close.

Nick Peel, the leader of the Labour Group, said: "We need to use whatever relationship we have with the ownership of M&S to make sure it does not become a dilapidated, boarded up building, right smack in the centre of the shopping area.

"They need to work with us to make sure at least something is going on in the ground floor windows, otherwise it is going to be horrendous."

Cllr Cox said the announcement last month came as a shock to the leadership at Bolton Council, who were told about the closure in an email around an hour before it was reported in The Bolton News.

He said that the council is in discussions with developers, but that these talks are in their earliest stages.

He said: "It is a 100,000 sq ft building and in these conditions no one is taking on 100,000 sq ft of retail. But it is incumbent upon us to find an alternative use for the building sooner rather than later."

READ MORE: Bolton: Pub one of a dozen assets set to be sold.

Cllr Cox said the search for an alternative use is 'a thorny issue', due to the risk of a breach of the lease.

He said: "A lease is a legal agreement. If M&S are paying the lease, they have legal right to occupancy. 

"The minute we set foot in the building and start saying we will use it for this, that and the other, they will say we are in breach of the lease and that is the end of the payments. It is a tightrope we walk sometimes."