A MAJOR new recycling plant in Accrington will be another step closer when the group behind the project move into their new base.

The Prospects Community Recycling Project, which has attracted £431,000 of government and European funding, will move into Fairfield House, on the corner of Charter Street and Fairfield Street, Accrington, tomorrow.

It is the brainchild of the Clayton-le-Moors Prospects Panel, one of several set up in Hyndburn to involve local people in projects that will benefit the area.

Using recycled plastic components the project will make and sell landscape goods such as picnic tables, planters, fences and decking to generate most of the income for the project, which is expected to be self-financing in the fourth year.

Until then it will be funded by money from the Single Regeneration Budget, the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, and the Lancashire Environmental Fund. There are also plans to produce animal bedding from shredded waste cardboard sourced from shops and small businesses in the borough. After the bedding has been used that too will be recycled to produce concentrated liquid plant food and high quality compost.

The third part of the operation will use reclaimed timber to produce a range of garden furniture for sale including bird tables, bird boxes, and benches.

Production is not expected to start until January but organisers say they need to prepare the new premises and recruit staff. The project will create 27 jobs, seven of which will be supervisory, with production jobs offered to people with learning disabilities.

It will be run in conjunction with Clitheroe-based Trinity Community Partnership, who specialise in providing services for people with learning difficulties.

Phil Barwood, vice chairman of the Hyndburn Prospects Panel, who oversee the Prospects panels, said: "It's such a big project, it's major for us. I'm really really looking forward to it."