CCTV cameras are to be installed in an underpass notorious for flashers in a bid to make it safer.

An £80,000 scheme is being planned to improve the subway and the motorway bridge leading down to Nelson and Colne College's main Reedyford site, Scotland Road, Nelson.

CCTV cameras will monitor the area, relaying images straight back to Nelson police station, as part of proposals to cater for the 1,800 full-time students who will attend the expanded site when the college moves onto a single campus in just over a year.

A number of students and residents have been victims of flashers on the path leading to the college over the past few years.

It is hoped that the cameras, along with cut-back foliage and improved lighting, will reduce problems and encourage more people to use the pedestrian and cycle ways.

The college has contributed £6,000 to the scheme, and is working with police, the community safety partnership, Pendle Council and Lancashire County Council to find the rest of the money.

College principal Alison Birkinshaw said the improvements would also help alleviate concerns over traffic volume when the college's site at the former Colne Grammar School, Barrowford Road, closes and merges into the Nelson building.

She said: "There have been a few reports of incidents in the underpass over the years, but it's not a major problem at the moment.

"What we really want to do is make that area better to encourage as many of our students and staff as possible to walk or cycle rather than driving to the college.

"We are also working with the bus companies to try to get more routes going past the college.

"We do encourage everyone to look out for their personal safety, but the main point of this is to get together a good green travel plan in preparation for the new building and the new students."

Pendle Council's Colne, Nelson, Brierfield and Barrowford area committees has been asked to contribute to the scheme, but it is hoped the bulk of the cash will come from Lancashire County Council, which is the authority responsible for highways in the borough.