A MULTI-million pound new supermarket and shops scheme for Fleetwood town centre came a step closer this week.

The Department of Environment announced that it would not be calling in the plan - for a 4.3-acre site between Lord Street and Freeport shopping village - for a final decision.

The news means that Sheffield-based developer Dransfield Properties, which already has outline planning permission from Wyre Council, can now start building work as soon as the property deals are complete and details approved, hopefully by October.

The shops will come first and the supermarket later, possibly in the New Year, pending negotiations with one of the big chains such as Tesco, Safeway, Asda, Sainsbury or Morrisons. Dransfield Properties predict 400 new jobs will be created by the scheme, which will replace a block of rundown businesses with smart new premises, a 330-space car park and petrol station.

A delighted Mark Dransfield, managing director, said the Department of Environment's decision meant they had overcome the last hurdle before getting on with the development.

"We have already had a great deal of interest from retailers in the project," he said, "so it's all systems go now."

The project, which promises to be sympathetic to the port's Victorian architecture, has been welcomed by Wyre Council as a means of regenerating the town centre, providing a big-name supermarket which Fleetwood lacks and forging a link between the traditional Lord Street shopping area and the new retail and housing developments around the quayside.

Meanwhile, a rival application, from Manchester-based City Park Realty for a supermarket and shops on the same site, is still being processed by Wyre planners. If the Dransfield scheme falls through for any reason, City Park would hope to step in.

A Dransfield spokesman said: "As far as we're concerned it doesn't jeopardise our scheme at all."

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