Chorley Council will be opening up its staff car park to help make it easier for visitors to park during the town centre gas works.
Motorists wanting to park in the Flat Iron car park close to the shops will face disruption when part of Union Street is closed for essential gas mains replacement work on Saturday (July 24).
The council's staff car park on Hollinshead Street, whi
ch is open to the public at the weekend, will temporarily be available during the week.
Chorley Council leader Peter Goldsworthy said: "The work undertaken by National Grid on Union Street is necessary but will inevitably cause disruption for motorists wanting to use the popular Flat Iron car park.
"The car park will remain open but people wanting to use it will have to follow a lengthy diversion via Commercial Road and Park Road.
"By opening up Hollinshead Street it means there will be extra spaces."
The gas works, which started in April and are part of National Grid's £3.5 million 12-month project to replace 25km of old metal gas mains in Chorley, will move to Union Street on July 24 with parts of Union Street closed in three different stages.
From Saturday Union Street will be closed between the A6 and Byron Street in both directions for approximately a week.
The next phase of the project will take place from Clifford Street to Fellery Street with Union Street becoming one-way from the east of Fellery Street to Clifford Street.
"Chorley is very much still open for business and the Flat Iron market will be open as usual. I would urge motorists to try and avoid Union Street and use one of the other town centre car parks," said Coun Goldsworthy.
"We're trying to help in any way we can and I hope by opening our staff car park and asking them to use car parks further away from the town centre it will make things easier for shoppers."
The work along Union Street is expected to take about eight weeks and the council's Hollinshead Street car park will remain open to the public from July 24 until the works are finished.
John Edwards of the North West Gas Alliance, a partnership National Grid has formed with Balfour Beatty to carry out this work, said: "This work has been planned carefully with the local authority
"We know that people will be concerned about possible disruption but we are appealing for them to have patience with us during our work.
"They can be assured that we are doing all we can to keep any inconvenience to a minimum, including working extended hours in order to complete the work as soon as possible.
"The short-term pain will be followed by a long-term gain – a safe and reliable gas supply system for many years to come."
For more information on Chorley's town centre car parks and their location visit www.chorley.gov.uk/parking.
