A MAJOR project to re-roof a heritage-listed East Lancashire cultural attraction is set for the final go-ahead.

The £465,000 repair scheme for Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery will take nine months and is due start later this summer provided the work is approved by councillors on Thursday night.

The hub, one of the first public museums to open outside London in 1874, houses collections of national importance including paintings by J W Turner, Japanese prints, Christian icons and Egyptian exhibits.

In August the executive board of Blackburn with Darwen Council, which owns the Grade II listed building at the corner of Museum Street and Richmond Terrace, authorised the scheme using £100,000 of its own money and a £365,000 Arts Council England grant.

Now the borough's planning committee is set to grant permission for the detailed scheme of repairs and grant and listed building consent for the painstaking work.

A report by planning officer Christian Barton to Thursday night's meeting recommending approval says: "The proposed developments involve the implementation of re-roof with use of reclaimed slate to the Grade II listed Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery.

"The installation of a replacement roof lantern, new rain water goods and associated works are also proposed.

"The works are predominantly required to prevent water ingress and improve the overall efficiency of the building.

"It is a Grade II listed building currently subject to a range of structural issues given its age.

"The site is within Blackburn town centre and the Northgate Conservation Area.

"Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery is a two-storey building in an ornate Gothic Revival style.

"The roof of the building is currently in a state of disrepair with some significant fabric issues and water ingress which need to be addressed.

"The building also features a range of stone motifs that depict images from various local professions of the day alongside science, innovation and classical scenes

"The proposals broadly involve high-level works to repair the roof of the building with the relaying of the existing slate roof and flat roof sections and the replacement of an existing lantern.

"The works are required to prevent the ingress of water, which is affecting internal structure/decoration and threatening collections within the museum.

"A replacement aluminium roof lantern would be installed. Two larger roof lanterns would be retained and modified.

"The stone chimney stack would be reduced in height.

"The building forms a landmark feature within the conservation area and town centre.

"It is nationally rare in its architectural style owing to the sequence of motifs that adorn its most prominent elevations.

"A number of irreplaceable artefacts are also contained within."