BLACKBURN'S Royal Infirmary site has been put up for sale - with a £4million price-tag.

Rocketing land prices and the fact the Victorian complex is in the heart of a regeneration area mean health bosses can double its original evaluation.

Cash from the sale will go towards the provision of local health services at the re-built £100million Queen's Park Hospital, due to open in 2006, and elsewhere.

Finance bosses at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs hospitals throughout the area, have now said they are actively marketing the infirmary site, in Bolton Road.

Talks are understood to be ongoing with Blackburn with Darwen Council about how the site can be used in conjunction with the Elevate East Lancashire project, which will spend hundreds of millions of pounds regenerating the area's poorest districts.

A spokesman for the trust said: "Originally, we expected to raise £1million from the sale of the Infirmary and another £1million from selling land around it.

"Along with a couple of small properties on Haslingden Old Road, near to Queen's Park Hospital, we now anticipate the sale of the land and Infirmary to raise about £4million.

"It's effectively doubled and due mainly to the fact that land prices have soared along with property prices."

The money, when received, will be added to the Trust's capital fund, which pays for improvements to facilities.

In total, around £4.75million is expected to be added to the coffers of the cash-strapped trust, currently making cuts to spending in a bid to save money.

Council bosses would like to use the site to build affordable housing to attract new people to the area.

They also want to retain the Victorian parts of the infirmary and convert them into executive-style apartments, something they believe there could be a market for.

And they have pledged to ensure stained-glass windows and mosaics included in the building are safeguarded for the future.

Residents' groups will also be consulted on what happens to the site.