A £2MILLION project to preserve the heritage of a town has taken a 'step forward'.

Burnley Council has appointed a development officer to lead a five year lottery-funded project aimed at protecting and preserving Padiham’s heritage.

The Padiham Townscape Heritage scheme, Crafting the Future, aims to protect the town centre’s historic buildings and support work to create an area of special architectural and historic interest to make the town more 'attractive' for residents, workers and visitors.

Around £1.4million will be funded towards the project by Heritage Lottery Fund and a further £600,000 of contributions from the council and private partners.

The council has now appointed Suzanne Pickering, who previously worked at Blackburn with Darwen Council, as the scheme’s development officer to lead the programme.

Ms Pickering will oversee the day-to-day management of the heritage initiative, which will focus on a compact area of mostly Victorian buildings at the heart of the conservation area, known locally as “The Hill.”.

Ms Pickering said: "We want to create an attractive centre that brings in more visitors and shoppers and that looks to the future as much as the past.

"It’s also about inspiring the local community to find out more about their local heritage, and give people the chance to learn new skills.”

The new programme aims to bring back traditional life and vitality to Padiham by supporting regeneration and business development throughout the town centre by celebrating all things home made in Padiham.

This will include the development of a marketing strategy “Homemade on the High Street” to build on the growing cluster of creative businesses and draw on Padiham's heritage and connections to the Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth and Gawthorpe Textiles Collection.

It will also oversee the repair and restoration of eligible historic buildings through a grant programme and carry out environmental improvements, such as introducing traffic calming, pavement resurfacing and public art enhancements.

Earlier this year the council asked local people to help shape a conservation area management plan which has been seen as a 'key part' of the successful bid.

Cllr John Harbour, the council’s deputy leader and "heritage champion”, said: “This is a long-term scheme and we’re committed to making sure we keep up the momentum, building on the success of our lottery bid and the work done so far.

"Local people, businesses and groups have enthusiastically backed this project and we will continue to work with them to improve Padiham.”