WORK to prepare the old Horwich Leisure Centre for demolition will begin later this month.

Bolton Council has revealed that a contractor, Reddish Demolition, has been appointed and will take possession of the site off Victoria Road on Monday, July 23.

A programme of work is expected to last for around 14 weeks, during which the building will be demolished.

A spokesman from Bolton Council said: "We have now had confirmation of the appointment of a contractor for the demolition of the old leisure centre.

"Reddish Demolition will take possession of the site on Monday, July 23, with a programme of works expected to last around fourteen weeks.

"They submitted a very robust proposal with their tender in terms of communicating with local residents during the work and also provision of additional temporary car parking on site approximately six weeks into the programme.

"Further detail on the exact programme of works and any potential short term disruption to the current temporary parking arrangements will be communicated to customers and adjacent residents in due course."

The demolition of the centre was due to take place once the new £10million leisure centre was completed.

But delays in gaining funding for the health centre, which will be built on the site of the old leisure centre along with a car park, had put the work back.

This meant that a temporary car park had to be created on the contractors's yard at Old Station Park.

This has now been in use since the new leisure centre opened earlier this year and contains 82 spaces.

But the community has since been complaining about traffic and parking issues on surrounding roads, mostly used by people using the leisure centre.

This includes parking along Victoria Road and drivers leaving cars on double yellow lines, which has led to roads becoming blocked.