NEW lighting is set to be installed around the Weavers Triangle development as council chiefs rush to beat the deadline to spend Government funding.

The £1.3million public square scheme at Sandygate will feature ‘specialist lighting and projector equipment’, but the work has to be done by end of September to beat the deadline for when a Regional Growth Fund grant expires.

Burnley Council has sped up the process of allowing development partner Barnfield to appoint a specialist consultant so that the £90,000 lighting work can be completed in time.

The Sandygate Square development will become the centrepiece of the On the Banks development when it is completed.

It will include a new footbridge over the canal creating a pedestrian gateway to the developments around the square and the University Technical College, a large amphitheatre for outdoor events, canalside terrace seating with feature lighting and new street furniture and landscaped areas.

Despite the money being spent on the Weavers Triangle, fresh calls have been made to find a solution to an ‘eyesore’ pub at the entrance to the Trafalgar Street area.

The former Mitre pub has lain empty for around 10 years and is currently used for advertising by Burnley Football Club.

Burnley MP Gordon Birtwistle said: “It needs sorting out as it looks a mess and spoils the area.

“It either needs sprucing up, selling or demolishing. Millions of pounds have been spent in that area, but you still have this eyesore building right at the entrance to it.” The council-owned building is locally listed and lies within the Canalside Conservation Area.

A Burnley Council spokeswoman said the former pub had been on the market for sale for the past four years.

The former Waterloo pub, at the corner of Trafalgar Street and Sandygate, will be converted into larger office units alongside the old Sandygate Mill, as previously reported, under the second phase of the On The Banks scheme.