A £40million plan to create a Shakespeare theatre and centre in Lancashire have been unveiled.

Last month the Lancashire Evening Telegraph revealed that experts from around the world were descending on Hoghton Tower this summer to investigate growing evidence that the Bard spent some of his early years there.

Now Sir Bernard de Hoghton has revealed that plans to create a major Shakespeare centre were well underway. The tower has been considering a major arts centre for many years but the plans were put on ice during the last recession.

Now with increasing focus on the link between Shakespeare and Lancashire it is thought to be an ideal time to revive the ambitious plans.

Renowned architect Nicholas Helm has drawn up plans for the centre which would be based on the Great Barn. A theatre based around the woods and using the cliffs as a backdrop is also part of the plans.

It would also include an exhibition centre which could be used as a centre for Shakespeare studies.

"We are hoping to get the majority of the funding from private sources and that is what we are starting to look at now," confirmed Sir Bernard. And he believes that the centre could have a huge impact on the local economy.

"You only need to look at how prosperous Stratford is to realise what the tourism that Shakespeare has brought is worth to an area," said Sir Bernard. "It would bring many millions into Lancashire."

A number of academics believe that the great playwright- recently voted Man of the Millennium - worked as a servant at Hoghton Tower.

It is thought some of his works could have been based on his experiences here.

An international conference is being staged at the tower this summer by Lancaster University, when experts on the Bard from across the world are due to speak.

The strong possibility that the Bard may have lived there is one of the subjects to be discussed by academics from as far afield as Japan and Russia at the July event.

A leading expert recently claimed it had been proved "beyond reasonable doubt" that a servant called William Shakeshafte employed by the Hoghton family at Hoghton Tower was in fact the young William Shakespeare.

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