A £1.8 million investment 'bringing massive benefits' to two of Warrington's recycling centres is set to begin.

The town’s three community recycling centres are located in Stockton Heath, on Sandy Lane, Gatewarth, on Barnard Street, and Woolston, on New Cut Lane.

The works totalling £1.8 million, approved by the executive board in May, will see Gatewarth remodelled to maximise space including new access and exit points, while Woolston will be extended to provide greater capacity for receiving waste and to create a better flow of traffic.

Both sites will also benefit from resurfacing, renewed perimeter fencing, upgraded lighting and new CCTV and security systems.

As well as providing ‘higher quality’ services, the council says the improvements will enable the borough to meet current environmental permitting standards, with the authority needing to 'significantly upgrade' its facilities to comply with Environment Agency requirements.

The Woolston improvements commence on August 6 and will take up to 12 weeks to complete.

The site will be temporarily closed from August 5 and is programmed to reopen in late October.

The improvements at Gatewarth will take place between early October and February next year.

But the works will be phased to ensure the site is operational at all times.

The council's executive board member for environment, Cllr Judith Guthrie, said: "These improvements are an important part of our work to modernise community recycling in Warrington and to meet the requirements of the Environment Agency.

"The investment will bring massive benefits to users of Gatewarth and Woolston recycling centres, bringing them up to modern standards and maximising the amount of waste which can be handled.

"We would ask people to bear with us while these works are carried out.

"There will be some short-term disruption but it will result in major improvements to our community waste recycling service."

For more information visit warrington.gov.uk and type 'recycling centre improvements' into the search box.

You can also e-mail enquiries to crcimprovements@warrington.gov.uk.