SUPERMARKET chain Morrisons and developers Dransfield Properties can finally put their ambitious plans for Fleetwood's town centre into action.

The Department of Environment, Transport and the regions (DETR) has approved plans for a new superstore which were given the go-ahead by Wyre Borough Council last month.

Morrisons, which was recently voted Multiple Retailer of the Year are set to develop a store covering 73,000 square feet, greatly enhancing shopping facilities in Fleetwood.

Work is due to start on the Lord Street phase of this massive town centre redevelopment early in the New Year. At least 100 new jobs will be created by the Lord Street development and the new Morrisons superstore will bring a further 350 jobs to the area. Poundstretcher and Your More have already announced they plan to occupy the ground floor of the Lord Street site and it is expected they will open some time next summer.

A special soil cutting ceremony is being held at the site early in January to mark the start of of construction work on the new buildings. Managing director of Dransfield Ltd, Mark Dransfield, said: "We are delighted that the DETR has approved our plans for a Morrisons store for Fleetwood.

"We have always been confident that this is an excellent scheme which will really boost the local economy and we're just pleased that we can now go ahead with those plans.

"A lot of hard work has gone into getting this development to this stage and we're looking to marking the start of the work on site early in the New Year."

Development director for Morrisons, Chris Evenson, said: "We are pleased that the DETR has been able to deal so quickly with our application and are looking forward to starting development on the site as soon as possible."

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