A COMMUNITY project to spruce up the borough’s district centres will start this month.

The ‘cleaner, greener’ package of environmental improvements, that formed part of Wigan Council’s Our Town programme, were postponed last year following the pandemic.

Leader of the council, Cllr David Molyneux, said: “The last 12 months have been incredibly hard on our residents and businesses and we want to make sure our towns are spruced up ready to reopen when the roadmap allows it.”

Recognising the impact of the pandemic on local high streets, Wigan Council has committed an additional £400k to the Our Town pot, bringing the total investment to £1million. The extra funding will support additional activity, with a focus on community safety, high streets and greenspaces.

Inspired by feedback from residents, the Our Town programme aims to build on the strength and pride of communities to make towns safer and high streets, parks and greenspaces more appealing to visit.

Lead member for district centres, Cllr Yvonne Klieve, said: “Our Town is all about increasing community spirit and we know people want to look around their community feeling proud of where they live. I’m pleased that we’re able to pick this up again as I know how much it means to our residents and businesses.”

The package includes replacement bins and additional bins, repainting and replacing street signs and benches, new or improved street lighting and repainting road markings.

Each area will get a deep clean, including jet-washing, weeding and pruning to tidy up the streets.

New trees will also be planted in each district and new flower planters installed.

The packages will be rolled out to each area throughout 2021.