THE red carpet was out when the Duke of Westminster visited the Fylde on Friday to mark the start of work on Blackpool Victoria Hospital's new cancer unit.

The Duke, who is president of the Macmillan Windmill Appeal, arrived at the hospital shortly after 11am to sign off the £2.9m plans for the cancer out-patient department before heading outside to cut the first turf of the development.

The unit is expected to take 12 months to complete and will house haematology and oncology services, a specialist area for counselling, an information centre for cancer patients and their carers and a pharmacy dispensing service.

More than £1.1m has been raised through the Macmillan Windmill Appeal towards the cost of building the unit. The Duke, who is one of Britain's wealthiest men, has also donated £50,000 to the appeal and pledged a further £50,000.

Barry Fothergill, Blackpool Victoria Hospital chairman, thanked the Duke for his help and told supporters: "We were delighted when he agreed to become our president when the demands on him are enormous. It's a great honour for us."

He said the cancer unit would be "state of the art", adding: "Today is a very special day for us and a commencement of a much needed project. It really is going to be splendid. Macmillan have been tremendously supportive."

Macmillan Cancer Relief's acting chief executive Paul Rossi said Macmillan had been associated with specialist buildings for many years.

"What we try to do is to build buildings that are really something very special. We believe that's what the building we are developing here is going to be.

"I am pretty confident that if facilities for cancer patients in Blackpool are not what they ought to be, in 12 months time they should be as good as any facilities in the UK."

And he appealed for people to carry on giving. "The message from Macmillan and the trust is please give as much as you can because what we can give to you in return is the best cancer care facilities you will find in the UK."