A RIVER clean-up scheme in Rossendale costing nearly £1 million is set to be finished by the end of September, but rain has delayed work.

The River Irwell runs orange through part of Bacup because of discharges from the former Old Meadows meadows.

A Coal Authority survey found Old Meadows was the fourth worst polluted river in England, Scotland and Wales, with iron leaking out of the abandoned workings and affecting a 5.6km stretch of river.

Two settlement ponds are being created along with a reed bed and wetland area where the polluted water will be treated with caustic soda.

The banking next to Burnley Road has been cut away and mesh bales filled with stones stacked up to hold back soil. A stone pumping station has been built, the bus shelter has been relocated and a road is being constructed to connect the ponds and also to serve a farm.

A spokesman for the Coal Authority said: "Once the work is completed the stone-filled bales will be landscaped and trees will be planted alongside the road to screen the area.

"The pipes are all in and the ponds are being dug out but the weather has hampered the civil engineering work."

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