A NEW "Super Chamber" for Bolton, Bury, Rochdale and Oldham is to have its headquarters in Bolton.

Traditional chambers of commerce will merge on July 1 to create the North Manchester Chamber with 2,800 member companies employing more than 100,000 people.

The new body, which will have offices in each town, will be run from Commerce House in Bridgeman Place -- the former headquarters of the Bolton and Bury Chamber. The building -- once owned by the National Union of Mineworkers -- is undergoing a £400,000 refurbishment.

Mr David Peacock, chief executive of Rochdale Borough Chamber of Commerce, moves in on July 1 as chief executive of the new body, supported initially by Paul Norris, of the PNC business development consultancy, the man who guided merger discussions on behalf of Bolton and Bury Chamber.

From August, Commerce House will house staff from Bolton Council's regeneration and economic division and representatives of Business Link North Manchester.

Mr Norris said: "This is the culmination of our long-held ambition to have a focal point for business support in Bolton and across North Manchester."

The new organisation, which will trade as Chamber Business Connections, will have a total of 58 staff -- 14 in Bolton.

"At this stage the vast majority of posts have been filled internally," Mr Norris said.

North Manchester Chamber will have a board chaired by Mr Malcolm Dunphy, chairman of Dunphy Combustion in Rochdale. The same directors will represent Business Link North Manchester.

The Bolton representatives are expected to be Mr Norris, Andrew Dickson, of St Andrews Travel, and local publisher John Waters.

They will also serve on a Bolton advisory board alongside David Atherton, of dabs.com, Mark Sheen, of Barlow Andrews, Mark Allanson, of Bolton Institute, Paul Dickinson, of Fluidair Compressors Ltd, Peter Green, of Bolton Hospital Saturday Council, Nick Horsfall, of Garstangs Solicitors and Cllr John Byrne, of Bolton Council.

Mr Dickson, who is president of Bolton and Bury Chamber of Commerce, will become the Bolton president of Chamber Business Connections.

An advisory board overseeing Bury operations at Link House includes president Peter Weidenbaum, of the Trumeter Group, Lynda Hannam of Harwill Engineering, Jan Barnes, of Boardmans, Cllr Derek Boden, of Bury Council, and Brian Ward, of Senior Hargreaves.

Mr Dickson said: "I am delighted that this move will, at a stroke, give the chamber the size to be influential and the flexibility to be responsive to the needs of businesses in Bolton and the other North Manchester towns.

"I am particularly pleased that Commerce House has been chosen as the head office of the new Chamber, situated as it is in the heart of the local business support community."