Legendary runner Ron Hill is to have an Accrington street named after him, it can be revealed.

Ron Hill Way, part of the £55m reg-eneration scheme off Blackburn Road, will be named after the runner, who competed at three Olympic Games and won marathon gold medals at the Eur-opean Championships and Common-wealth Games.

Mr Hill, 75, who still runs every day, will unveil street signs there next Thur- sday. He said: “It’s a great honour.

“The street is within 400 metres of where I was born, in Dale Street, and it will be just behind where the rail shed was, where my dad worked until it closed down. So there’s a lot of history there for me.

“I’m probably going to be cutting the tape, or something, and I will have my wife, May, with me. She is an Oswald-twistle lass.”

Ron, who also founded his own brand of sports clothing, is now in his 50th year of running, and hasn’t missed his daily run since December 1964.

He has clocked up more than 158,000 miles in his personal running, a Guinness world record.

Deputy council leader and cabinet member for housing, Coun Clare Pritchard, said: “During his running career, Ron Hill spread the name of Accrington all around the world, so it is only fitting to now name a street in Ron’s honour. As a sportsman and busin-essman, Ron has been like a breath of fresh air, so it is only right his name is used to mark a scheme that will breathe new life into Accrington.”

Ron Hill Way forms part of the Acorn Park housing ren-ewal scheme, being built by Keepmoat. Almost 135 new homes have been built already, and planning permission for another 103 was granted in January.

Head of land and partnership for Keepmoat in the North West, Ian Fletcher, said: “More than anyone else Ron embodies the never say die spirit of Acc-rington.”