WORK has restarted on reclaiming derelict land on the edge of Pennington Flash to complete a job which fizzled out in the mid 1990s.

Wigan Council has been given £1.4m of government money by the North West Development Agency to carry out the final phase of the reclamation of Ramsdale's Tip which stretches eastwards from Plank Lane canal bridge.

The scheme will pave the way for the restoration of the now closed Amberswood landfill tip at Hindley to where 400,000 tonnes of shale will be transported from Ramsdale's Tip via the old Bickershaw Colliery site. The shale will be used for 'capping' and restoration.

Some 50,000 tonnes of Rammie's ruck will be used to bolster the banks of the Leeds-Liverpool canal and the spoil heap will blend in and enhance the tip's appearance as well as the angling facilities.

Landscaping will including a new footpath and bridleway network, fencing and planting.

Councillor Lynne Liptrot, Wigan Council's Cabinet Member for the Environment, said: "This is excellent news -- we are solving two problems at once here by using waste material to help restore the Amberswood site.

"It is an imaginative way of getting rid of two of our remaining eyesores in an environmentally friendly way.

"The reclamation of Ramsdale's Tip has been in the pipeline for many years, and I'm delighted that its finally coming to fruition. It will provide a welcome addition to the already excellent facilities enjoyed by the country park's visitors."

Nearly half a million tonnes of coal pit waste will be transported across Plank Lane to Amberswood via the Bickershaw colliery site. Work has just started on the scheme and the main earth moving should be complete by October 2003 followed by an extensive landscaping operation.