WIGAN Council's Development Company has been taking care of business for more than 20 years.

The launch was a bold gamble, taken during a time of recession, but it has paid off, revitalising the district and providing jobs for the unemployed.

A recent MoT showed it has clocked up some significant achievements since its 1980 launch, with £2m loaned from council funds, investing almost £7.5m in more than 300,000 sq ft of industrial units, small factories and managed workshops, and creating 780 jobs.

Financial investment in 20 firms has created or safeguarded 228 jobs.

The company carries out estate management at five locations including the Higher Folds Investment Centre.

The new Centre for Trade and Technology (CT3) was completed last August, comprising 25,000 sq ft of office space, and the Acorn Business Centre, Leigh, was finished last July, and comprises 14 managed offices and workshops.

Cabinet member for business and regeneration, Coun Alan Stephenson, said: "It was a bold move all those years ago to invest such funds during a time of deep recession, but the council was determined to put its money where its political mouth is, that is, in a determination to tackle unemployment and poverty by taking a lead in revitalising the economy of the district.

"How well that investment had paid off. How many people, now with jobs to go to, owe that fact to the hard work and commitment of Wigan's Development Company? Long may the work continue."