FOUR hundred houses, 1,000 jobs, a cricket ground, nine-hole golf course and recreation centre.

These are some of the suggested target ideas for the defunct East Lancs Paper Mill, which could be considered by site owners St Regis Paper Company.

Plans for a mixed use of the former paper mill got a mixed reaction when it was proposed by council chiefs this week.

While some members of the public who attended Monday's (Jan 21) meeting of Radcliffe Area Board felt it was a "golden opportunity", others were more cautious.

Bury Council felt the 17-hectare site would best be suited to a mixture of housing, business and leisure use. Town hall bosses also want to develop a planning framework for the site which would take into account the 44 hectares of adjoining land at Radcliffe E'es.

St Regis Paper Company has no immediate plans for the land. With this in mind, Bury Council felt that it would be in its interest to work in partnership with the firm with regards to the site's future, and draw up a strategy and a list of masterplan targets to suggest to the landowners.

Speaking at Monday's meeting, Bury Council's executive member for economic and social regeneration, Councillor Wayne Campbell, said: "The loss of ELPM was a catastrophe, but we can make something good out of that. This is a major opportunity for Radcliffe and we have to be in at the beginning, otherwise the site will remain empty for years."

Resident Mr Derek Sandford said: "It's a golden opportunity."

But the suggestion that houses could be built there did not go down too well with one female resident.

"Who would the houses be built for?" she asked. "People in Radcliffe cannot afford to buy £60,000 houses when a lot of them haven't even got jobs."

Mr Mike France wanted some assurance that if houses were built, local people would be employed in construction jobs.

He also suggested employers at any business or retail premises built would work with local schoolchildren and give them a chance to develop their skills.

More discussions will now take place to decide the best approach to developing what Colin Fishwick, Bury's head of economic development, described as "the single most important component in any strategy for the regeneration of Radcliffe".