A £50MILLION plan to transform the redundant ICI site at Thornton has been given a warm welcome.

Glasgow-based NPL Estates proposes new housing, leisure, supermarket and shopping facilities, a hotel and a restaurant, creating 150 permanent jobs, on the 200-acre site of ICI's former Hillhouse chemical works off Fleetwood Road North.

NPL announced it had reached agreement with ICI to develop the site over the next three years and the first phase is already under way with Barratt constructing 150 homes on 20 acres.

An outline planning application for the second phase has been lodged with Wyre Council for a mixture of private homes, low-cost housing, a supermarket, shops and car park.

NPL has also promised new buildings and a car park for Thornton Bowling Club on the site and Thornton Football Club will get a 13-acre ground with two full-size pitches, changing rooms and a spectator stand. Ward councillor Tony Condron was delighted: "It's great news. That area has been of great concern since ICI began pulling out. It's left a derelict hole in the middle of the ward.

"This will be a shot in the arm for the area, with new jobs and facilities we don't have at present."

Chemical pollution of the site was ruled out when the Barratt scheme was given the go-ahead, he said, and the same questions would be asked for the second phase. He also wanted to make sure Lancashire County Council provided enough school places for the extra population.

An NPL spokesman said: "We have worked with the local community to produce a development of which we can all be proud. We have produced a development plan which will transform this redundant site into one of the most attractive neighbourhoods in the North West.

"We are turning a brownfield site into a development which is new, creative and of real benefit to the area. By utilising redundant land in this way we are removing the constraints of the past and creating a development where people will be pleased to live and work for decades to come."

NPL has been working on the plans for two years in co-operation with ICI, Wyre Council, Barratt and local landowners.

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