ESSENTIAL work was due to start today on a function room at a community centre in Rossendale.

The room at the A, B and D Centre, Burnley Road, Bacup, will be closed for two weeks from today as £150,000 worth of health and safety work is carried out.

There will also be improvement work which will create a store room so tables and chairs can be safely stored away when not in use.

Trustee Geoff Law said: "We will also be putting in new lighting and a suspended ceiling, which will help with acoustics and heating.

"Other phases of the work will include improvements to the toilets and kitchen and we will also be looking at replacing the stage, curtains and other fittings."

Some of the community groups who use the building will temporarily be relocated to the Central Methodist Church Hall and the school room further up Burnley Road while the work is carried out.