A LANDMARK £150,000 scheme to revamp a shopping parade in Pendle has been condemned as ‘a town joke’ and ‘a mess’ by councillors.

Flagstones are crumbling already on the Market Street centre, which was only unveiled a few weeks ago, and critics have savaged the workmanship.

And questions have been asked about why a scheme estimated to take two months ended up over-running to half a year.

Borough and parish councillors made the damning assessment at a meeting of Pendle council’s Colne and district committee after touring the precinct, which runs from the job centre to the Tesco Express store.

Coun Roger Bucknell, of Laneshawbridge Parish Council, said: “I would just like to express my disbelief at the state of the precinct, especially where they have put the bollards around the square. It is a total mess.

“If you look around places like Manchester they use a core drill to cut around the bollards and the flags fit flush up to them. But here it just looks horrible.”

Coun Smith Benson added: “I could understand it if this had been done in a rush but they had ample time for attention to detail.

“I think everyone in Colne regards it as the town joke, given the length of time that it has taken. To say that we have problems now is quite frankly unbelievable.”

Council bosses have denied claims by councillors that contractors were pulled away from the project to undertake other work.

But council engineering manager Peter Atkinson added: “It did take a lot longer than it should have done.”

Coun Tony Greaves, a Pendle cabinet member, said that cracks had developed in some of the flags, which needed to be corrected.

“We must express our concern about the delays in undertaking the scheme and the quality of the workmanship and materials,” he said.

Councillors also agreed to calls for existing problems with flagstones to be rectified over the next few weeks.

Coun Howard Thomas added: “I think what has disappointed us is it was not a cheap scheme. But it is a million times better than what was there before.”

Floral displays have been included in the upgrade, by Colne in Bloom, which were praised by councillors.

Council officials have also pledged that a water feature, which was supposed to be the centrepiece of the precinct revamp, will be installed shortly.

But engineers have so far struggled to find a specialist firm which is interested in undertaking such a relatively small-scale project.