PEOPLE living in Bolton's outlying districts will have the chance to shape the future of their town centres.

Blueprints are to be drawn up to bring Westhoughton, Horwich, Little Lever and Farnworth town centres into the 21st century, with pedestrianised areas, new shops and revamped street plans.

Councillors said money could be squeezed from other areas of the budget to help fund the schemes.

Cllr David Wilkinson, Bolton Council's executive member for the environment, said: "There has been too much emphasis on Bolton town centre in recent years.

"We want to move forward in making sure that there are five town centres in the borough of which we can be proud."

It is hoped the makeovers will help each of the town centres to attract new investment and retailers to make them more able to compete with Bolton town centre and shopping centres such as Middlebrook and the Trafford Centre. A team of council officers has been set up to begin a consultation process with residents, shoppers, ward councillors and business owners in each of the four areas.

Draft action plans for Horwich and Farnworth will be drawn up by the summer and then published for consultation.

Plans for Westhoughton and Little Lever will follow by April, 2006.

Cllr Wilkinson said: "Hopefully this will provide some momentum for each of the town centres to move forward and attract new development as well as shoppers.

"There is some money already available, and we will look at ways to find some extra funding to allow these schemes to be realised.

"It's early days at the moment, but we're hopeful that this could help to bring trade back and help the towns grow."