WORK has started in Clitheroe on the new Aldi and Pets at Home stores.

The development, at the former Barkers Garden Centre site in Whalley Road, was given the green light by Ribble Valley Borough Council last year.

The £1.6 million project is due to last 26 weeks on the site, which has been vacant since the garden centre was closed in 2003.

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Work was started recently to clear the site of vegetation before construction can start.

Over the next 26 weeks Barnfield Construction will build a 16,300 sq ft Aldi supermarket and a 6,000 sq ft Pets at Home store on behalf of developers Rawdon Investments Limited.

The contract includes almost 95 parking spaces and a culvert diversion.

The stores are expected to open their doors to the public in the summer.

This is the second Aldi supermarket in the past 12 months that Barnfield has constructed, with the other just completed in St Helens.

Clitheroe Town Council leader Mary Robinson said: “It’s a good project for a brownfield site that has been vacant for 12 years.

“The roads still need to be sorted out but that’s Lancashire County Council’s job.”