ROADS around Hartlepool are to be closed while the town's war memorial is updated.

More than 1,000 new names are being added to the memorial in Victory Square on Victoria Road.

The 1,797 names have been etched on bronze plaques, which will be fixed to four granite pillars added to the existing memorial.

This Sunday, the section of Victoria Road between Swainson Street and Avenue Road will be closed to traffic all day, as a crane moves on to the site ready to lift the granite blocks into position.

There are likely to be four more temporary closures of the road next week when the granite posts are delivered, but they closures should only last about ten minutes.

The plaques commemorate Hartlepool men and women who died in the Second World War and subsequent conflicts. There are also some names of people who were killed in the First World War but were not on the memorial.

All the names have been complied by Hartlepool historian Eddie Bell.

The work on the memorial is expected to take two weeks and it will be rededicated next month.