WORK will soon begin on the final part of a project to revitalise a Hartlepool shopping centre.

A total of £180,000 is being spent on Brierton Lane shops to improve their appearance and make the surrounding area more secure. During the coming weeks three vacant shops will be demolished.

The area will be landscaped with trees, grass and paving, and there will also be landscaping around the remaining shops. This will include ridged paving to deter people from playing ball games.

The remaining canopies overhanging the front of units five and six will be removed because they have become unsightly, and a security camera will be installed to monitor the area. There is a doctor's surgery behind the shops and an entrance to this will be created through the car park behind the shops.

At the moment, traffic to the surgery drives through a service yard. Creating another access route will help make the service yard more secure.

The work will take about two months and is being funded by the Owton Rosmere Partnership, which is using money from the Government's Single Regeneration Budget to regenerate the Owton and Rossmere areas of the town.

A £30,000 first phase of improvements to the shops was carried out last year and included fitting a security fence and gates around the shops' service yard, and shop front improvements to units one to four.