Work replacing a number of electricity cables in an East Lancashire town has moved onto the next phase.

Engineers from Electricity North West have successfully completed the first stage of its seven-figure Bacup Road project.

The region’s power network operator is currently spending £1m to upgrade nine underground 11,000-volt electricity cables in the area.

The replacement cables will benefit 6,000 customers in the town, who have previously experienced power cuts over the past two years caused by the ageing cables which were installed in the 1950s.

As work continues up Bacup Road, towards Lower Cloughfold, Electricity North West has removed both the one way system and three way traffic lights that were in place, replacing it with a two way traffic light system.

Michael Dawes, area manager for Electricity North West, said: “We’re absolutely delighted with how work is progressing on Bacup Road.

“We’ve completed a major part of the project which has allowed us to remove the one way system along with the temporary three way traffic lights, both ahead of schedule.

“In place now is the two way traffic light system and these will be here until the project is completed.

“We always aim to keep disruption to a bare minimum and when we learnt of issues with the temporary three way traffic lights we rectified the problem quickly. I want to thank the residents of Rawtenstall for their understanding and co-operation.”

Electricity North West expects the project to be completed by October.

For more information about the Rawtenstall project, please visit www.enwl.co.uk/rawtenstall.