BURNLEY Market is poised for a £1million-plus revamp over the next five years.

The programme and the council cash to fund it is set to be rubber stamped at tomorrow night's meeting of Burnley Council's executive.

The move has today been welcomed by the town's MP Peter Pike, who said the market desperately needed to be "revitalising".

The plan has been put together by markets manager Colin Hill to ensure Burnley's market hall retains its "thriving" customer base while increasing job opportunities.

The investment programme includes:

Years one and two - £403,000 to implement a cooling and ventilation system, work on the electrics ahead of upgrading the open market and creating public toilets.

Year three - £293,000 to improve the appearance including new lighting systems and flooring.

Year four - £197,000 to create a lift.

Year five - £129,000 to replace the existing 30-year-old escalator.

Mr Hill said: "It's a really exciting time for us. We have been here since 1969, with the market being in desperate need of this for some time.

Mr Pike said he has been lobbied at national level about the problem with markets all over the country.

He said: "I support any development of the Market Hall. Markets are under a lot of pressure. One problem is we now have seven days of trading, which markets tend not to do so the modern trend is to move away from markets.

I met three different national bodies just before Christmas who had been lobbying MPs because of the national problem.

"We have got to inject more money into revitalising the markets. Burnley's market is more than 30 years old so regenerating it has got to be an option. The refurbishment of the town centre has made it much more attractive for shoppers so this has got to be followed by the market, especially the open market to attract people into a changed environment.

Coun Pat Bennett, the council's executive member with responsibility for markets, said: "We need to continue to make the market attractive for traders and customers "