PLANS for a £2million hotel, leisure and office complex could lead to a major jobs boost to East Lancashire.

The site of the former Lower Darwen Paper Mill in Greenbank Terrace could house a hotel, leisure centre and office complex as well as new homes, if plans submitted by Salford-based Charles Topham are approved.

Around 80,000 sq ft of office floor space would be created which, the company says, would create 700 office jobs.

To attract office users to the site, leisure facilities, including a restaurant and leisure club, would also be built.

There would also be a hotel to accommodate around 40 bedrooms -- which the developers hope would attract motorists using the M65 corridor.

Blackburn has suffered from a lack of hotels and business people attending the area for meetings are often forced to stay in Burnley, Clayton-le-Moors or further afield.

A Charles Topham spokesman said: "The application will bring back into use a previously developed site, within the urban area, which has stood virtually empty for some considerable time, thus supporting the principle of urban regeneration."

He added that it would create a high quality development which would in turn create a pleasant and attractive approach into Lower Darwen from the motorway.

The company also says the leisure proposal would kick-start investment into the office complex and immediately result in around 400 jobs.

Planning and development manager for the company Jane Aspinall said that if approved the development would take around three to four years to build.

Earcroft ward councillor David Fenton said: "The proposed development has to be good news for Darwen and the Earcroft ward and should be an improvement on the site at the minute which is used as an illegal tip."

Vice-president of Blackburn Chamber of Trade Raymond Goldstone also welcomed the plans.

In August last year council regeneration chief Coun Ashley Whalley said the council would do all it could to improve the level of hotel accommodation in the area after business leaders expressed concern about the closure of the 98-bedroom County Hotel in Preston New Road, which is being knocked down to make way for 80 new homes.

Fears about a lack of hotel bed space are expected to be eased once East Lancashire's first motorway service station off the M65 in Lower Darwen is built.

The application will be discussed at a future planning committee at a date yet to be decided.