Redevelopment will make Burnley town centre streets ahead

Shoppers and visitors will have noticed huge changes to Burnley’s main shopping thoroughfare, St James’s Street, which has had new paving laid and street furniture installed.

The £3.3m. regeneration scheme is a joint project between Burnley Borough Council and Lancashire County Council.

Iconic landmarks on the street – the bandstand and “gormless” lamppost – have been removed and relocated in recent weeks.

The bandstand has been relocated to Padiham’s Memorial Park while the gormless will eventually be sited in the new memorial guard being played for Turf Moor.

Burnley Council has confirmed that the stone plinth will be in safe storage until then.

Work is continuing to lay new paving and install seats, trees, planters and other features in Curzon Street and St James’s Street.

Burnley Council’s head of streetscene, Joanne Swift, said: “The areas where work has been completed shows how good the pedestrianised area is going to look once the work is completed.

“The new paving and seats make the town centre look much more modern and attractive and it will help bring in more shoppers to Burnley.”

Work on Curzon Street is due to be completed in the summer.

Much preparatory work has been done on the remaining areas of St James’s Street and the majority of the town centre regeneration scheme is due to be completed by spring 2018.

The scheme has won praise from the Burnley and District Chamber of Trade president Brian Hobbs who said recently the work would transform the “tired” state of the old street.

He said: “The work has already been a major improvement. It is much more modern, lighter and comfortable.”

But the scheme has not won universal acclaim with Burnley Lib Dem Coun. Gordon Birtwistle who has described it as a waste of money and criticised the rising costs of the project.