PLANS to transform the "scrap yard" image of Bury's Pimhole area have received a £285,000 boost.

The cash is part of a £1.7 million windfall to kickstart regeneration and environmental projects across the borough.

Pimhole has the largest concentration of scrap yards in the North West, and town hall bosses had drawn up an action plan to make the area cleaner and greener.

The council has now been given a grant of £255,000 to buy Clough Mill, a major step in the project.

A further £30,000 will pay for site investigations into land contamination, ecology and traffic surveys.

These sums come on top of the £244,000 already allocated for the clean-up plans through the Bury East Single Regeneration Budget.

The windfall comprises a £1.35 million grant from the North West Development Agency, with the rest to come from Bury Council and other bodies.

Other projects to benefit from NWDA cash include Openshaw Park in Bury (which receives £99,000), while £188,000 will pay for new riverside paths along the Roch Valley Greenway in Bury and Pilsworth.

Some £84,000 will improve the Kirklees Trail North for cyclists between Tottington and Greenmount, with £83,000 for improvements alongside the route of the East Lancashire Railway in Ramsbottom.

Meanwhile, £144,000 will be spent on tidying up 14 small sites in the East Bury SRB5 area.

In Radcliffe, £115,000 will turn the site of demolished shops on Blackburn Street into a car park, with £93,000 going towards a skateboard park near Hutchinson Way.

In Prestwich, the Longfield Centre will receive £266,000 to upgrade public car park facilities, pedestrian routes and landscaping.

Councillor Julie Higson, executive member for the environment, described the funding as great news, adding: "The schemes will make a real difference to the general appearance of our locality."