A BURSCOUGH councillor is urging West Lancs Borough Council to find more money to keep the village looking good.
Conservative Councillor Ruth Melling, who represents the Burscough East ward, is calling on the authority to find the funds in its stretched budget to keep the award-winning village centre improvements in good condition.
She said: “In 2008, the Conservative council worked with BCA Landscape Architects and Smiling Wolf Design Consultancy to create an imaginative improvement scheme for Burscough. The small-interlinked squares and pedestrian routes, bespoke furniture, paving, artworks, lighting, signage and a village clock. have given the village a real boost and were the springboard to the private sector development of Burscough Wharf.
“It was seen as one of the most inventive regeneration projects of recent years, enriching the village’s sense of identity and history. It won national landscaping and town planning awards and I heard it was even exhibited in Vienna.”
Cllr Melling explained that the maintenance funding that came with the project ran for five years but is now running out.
She said: “Some of the glasswork on the clock is faded and the paving needs cleaning from time to time along with the wear and tear caused generally by the Lancashire climate.
“I’ve written to my Conservative cabinet colleagues asking them to establish a maintenance budget which together with the parish council can ensure that this work which has done so much to lift our village centre is maintained in good condition for years to come.”
A spokesman for West Lancs Council said: “The borough council is working with Burscough Parish Council to consider the future maintenance of the works carried out in Burscough.
“The council is due to set its budget for 2014/15 on February 26 and consideration will be given to this budget issue, as well as a wide range of other issues, as part of the budget process.”