THE main street of a town centre will be closed in sections next month as part of the final stages of a major project.

The diversions will be out in place on Burnley Road in Padiham between August 3 and August 27.

Lancashire County Council contractors will be resurfacing the carriageway and improving the pavements and pedestrian facilities.

The improvements are part of the multi-million pound North-West Burnley Growth Corridor scheme and complement the £14 million Padiham Townscape Heritage Initiative.

Burnley Road will be shut to through traffic with three separate section closures planned.

From August 3 to August 13 the northern section of Burnley Road will be closed from the junction with Church Street, Gawthorpe Street and Moor Lane to Sowerby Street for work to remove the existing road surface, reset grates and install pedestrian crossings.

This section will then be reopened with Burnley Road being closed south of Sowerby Street to the pedestrian crossing where Burnley Road crosses the River Calder until August 20 to resurface the road and replace road markings.

This section will then be reopened and the northern section closed again until August 27 for the completion of the resurfacing and road marking.

Access will be maintained for businesses and diversions put in place for through-traffic.

Cllr Charlie Edwards, Lancashire County Council's highways boss, said: "These improvements in Padiham are already looking really good.

"The project is almost complete however we can only safely make these final improvements to Burnley Road while the road is closed to through-traffic."