WORK by Lancashire County Council to secure and protect its stalled Cuerden development site wills start later this month.

It involves protecting and weatherproofing the temporary roads and drainage, plus other measures to safeguard the investment already made.

The move follows the decision earlier this year by IKEA pull out of opening a store on the site close to the M65 and junction 29 of the M6.

Swedish furniture and furnishing giant was due to have a store on 10 per cent of the 160-acre site which is projected to provide two million square feet of mixed-use development.

Stephen Young, county council growth,boss, said yesterday: "Good progress had been made on preparing the site but this work has temporarily stopped.

"Later this month we'll be starting work on some measures to secure the site and protect the site preparation work that we've already done. We continue to explore options for its future development."