A £1 million facelift of Bolton's famous Victoria Square will start next month. Town hall chiefs have taken the decision to go ahead with the ambitious plan - even though they have a cash shortfall of £400,000. They want the work finished to make the town centre more attractive to combat the threat from the Trafford Centre at Dumplington which opens in October.

Council chiefs are determined to have the work on the town hall square finished in time for the Christmas shopping rush.

The main features of the re-vamp include moving the fountains closer to the town hall, more landscaping and completely re-paving the square in stone.

The War Memorial will remain where it is now, but the area around it will be landscaped and improved.

The scheme has been in the pipeline for more than a year but there has been concern about the council's ability to fund it.

Almost £300,000 has been made available from a European Regional Development Fund Grant, but the money has to be spent by June 6 or it is lost.

The council already has more than £300,000 earmarked for the scheme, but there is still a shortfall of just over £400,000.

But Cllr Bob Howarth, Bolton Council leader, said he was "confident" that the money could be found from council funds.

He said: "The town hall square is special. There is nothing quite like it in the whole of the North-west and it gives Bolton a tremendous advantage as somewhere to shop.

"But it has been looking a little tired and worn in recent years. The flags have been breaking up and it is time that it was improved."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.