CRUMBLING flags in Colne's precinct are finally set to be replaced - and taxpayers and supermarket giant Sainsbury's will be footing the bill.

Paving stones in the Market Street shopping centre, laid in 2008, failed to survive their first winter, prompting a row between Pendle Council and contractors.

But now three years on, with no agreement yet reached over who will ultimately fund replacement flags, town hall officials have vowed to pay for the precinct to be overhauled.

The borough council's cabinet will be asked on Thursday to approve a £104,000 scheme to revamp the area, and extend improvements to a fresh area outside the town's job centre.

This will be paid for, in part, by some of the proceeds from a planning agreement secured when the new Sainsbury's store in Windsor Street was allowed planning permission.

But another £39,000 will need to be transferred from projects to upgrade bus shelters, car parks and offer other town centre improvements, alongside an extra £25,370 from the council's coffers.

Engineering manager Peter Atkinson said: "Some of the stone flags used in the original scheme were substandard and, as a consequence, have deteriorated to the extent that they require replacing.

"This is a matter which is being pursued with the contractor and stone supplier used on the scheme, and is unlikely to be resolved in the near future.

"In view of this, and accepting that the remedial work is necessary and can no longer be left undone, it is proposed to undertake the work."

Similar flags to those used in the successful repaving of Nelson's Market Street will now be used in the precinct.

The crumbling flagstones were said to have been imported from India. Traders and councillors have repeatedly criticised delays in resolving the problem.

Another aborted scheme to create a water featured in the precinct, which was later replaced by stone spheres, also created controversy.