EAST Lancashire has a proud industrial past but a significant slice of it exists today as nothing more than a ugly scar.

A lot has been done to remove or restore crumbling mill buildings and clean up polluted land and waterways.

Some former workplaces are now fascinating centres where children can learn and older people can remember the way things once were.

But while the history of cotton is quite well told, there are no useful reminders of another part of our heritage - the important role of coal mining especially in the Hyndburn and Burnley areas.

Now the coke ovens at Oswaldtwistle's former Aspen Colliery off Blackburn Road are to be restored as part of a £21.6million five-year plan which ambitiously aims to reclaim 25 per cent of the county's derelict land.

The whole colliery site will also be improved and money will also be used to create a community farm in Oswald Street, Burnley and extend Yarrow Valley Country Park, Chorley.

Cash is also being spent on making former industrial sites centres for active leisure with cycle and walkways, sport and play areas and wildlife habitats being created.

The result will, hopefully, be an interesting presentation of our past and excellent leisure facilities - a backdrop which should make East Lancashire the place where tomorrow's employers will want to be.