A KEY road in Blackburn town centre will be closed for three years to allow a £25million heritage refurbishment project to go ahead.

The section of Blakey Moor between Duke Street and Barton Street – near to King George's Hall - will be shut to vehicles and pedestrians from Monday promising traffic chaos.

The closure is to allow the major restoration and redevelopment of Blackburn College's historic Victoria Building to be undertaken safely.

As part of the diversions, Duke Street will be re-opened to two-way traffic meaning that the on-street parking there will be reduced.

The closure and road re-routing is set to cause chaos in Blackburn town centre which has already been hit by traffic disruption from the work on the £3.8m Blakey Moor Townscape Heritage project to transform the mainly-Victorian Northgate side of the town centre into a leisure quarter of cafes, coffee houses and bars.

Businesses in the Blakey Moor and Northgate areas will remain open as usual and have been informed about the new arrangements.

Cllr Paul Marrow, regeneration spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council's opposition Conservative group, said: "This will cause major disruption to traffic.

"It is very bad news for motorists coming in and out of Blackburn town centre.

"It will be chaos."

The work to the college's oldest building - which is Grade-II heritage-listed - aims to modernise it and improve its teaching spaces and providing a top floor arts studio as well as unveiling its historic features.

The renovation will create digitalised facilities, two new lecture theatres, social spaces and a range of other improvements to classrooms.

Blackburn with Darwen Council highways department has posted about the work on its Facebook page and promised that details of diversions because of the closure will be clearly signed and available on its social media channels.

It is working closely with the contractor BAM to ensure that any disruption is minimised.

The 135-year-old Victoria Building's £25m renovation is a joint project between the college and the Department for Education financed from the government’s £1.5billion Further Education Capital Transformation Fund.

Cllr Marrow said: "This will cause major disruption to traffic in an area which has already seen frequent disruption in recent years because of the Blakey Moor Heritage project.

"It will be chaos.

"It is going to make it very hard for people to get into the town centre and King George's Hall.

"We are expecting the Blakey Moor Terrace renovation to be ready before this closure ends.

"How are people going to get to the restaurants were are hoping will come there?

"It is going to affect the town centre's nightlife as well as the ordinary day to day life of the town centre.

"I understand the need to do this work safely but it is very bad news for motorists coming in and out of Blackburn town centre."

A spokeswoman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said: “This road closure is required to allow for the safe re-development of Blackburn College’s iconic Victoria Building.

“Preserving our heritage buildings is important to the council and this is a huge amount of investment by the Department for Education and Blackburn College – a welcome boost for our town and our new £50m Blackburn Cultural Quarter.”