WORK on the £5.6million redevelopment of Marl Pits and Haslingden Leisure Centres is set to be delayed in order to ensure the scheme does not go over budget.

Council chiefs in Rossendale said the delay would hopefully only be a few weeks away as they fought to keep the project on budget.

The start date of the construction phase has been put back while modifications to the design take place, after costings revealed the scheme was now heading to go over the budget.

Coun Jason Gledhill, portfolio holder for leisure, said: “When the project team put together the costs for the design and the raw materials the results come back at slightly over the £5.6million budget.

"This was because of a number of slight issues, such as the price of steel having gone up since the original costs were worked up.

“We want to ensure the project stays under budget and as a result some slight modifications have been made to the design to keep it that way.”

The modifications made might mean that the new designs have to go before the council’s planning department.

Coun Gledhill said: “It is not clear yet but because of these small modifications we may have to get them cleared through the planning com-mittee, and the next meeting is a few weeks away.

“Throughout the project we have pushed the scheme right to the budget to make sure we have the best facility possible, and everything that was planned to go in the leisure centres will still go in.

“It is only a small delay and the leisure centres will still definitely, definitely open in 2012.”