A MAJOR new gas pipeline is expected to cause disruption in East Lancashire when work starts in April.
Transco, the gas distribution company, is building the 29km high-pressure pipeline from Samlesbury to Helmshore and is warning that the work will affect roads along the route.
The pipeline will will cross the M65, A666, the Blackburn to Preston railway, Leeds-Liverpool Canal and the rivers Darwen and Roddlesworth.
About 500 jobs will be created when work starts in April and ends in October.
The pipe is being laid because the gas network currently supplying East Lancashire is approaching capacity.
Transco says it has addressed environmental concerns by liaising with local councils, the Environment Agency, English Nature, English Heritage and a number of local wildlife groups before the final route was drawn up.
It says the landscape will be returned to its natural state once work is finished.
Brian Parmenter, Transco's assets contract manager for the North-West, said: "With considerable development like large scale housing projects under way in the area and land being allocated for industrial and commercial development, Transco needed to cater for the increased demand.
"This is a vital project for the local area and although there will be some disruption for people living along the route, we will do everything in our power to keep it to a minimum."
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