EUROPE will pump £2.5 million into a scheme to turn a power station site into a 500-job industrial powerhouse.

The EU funding provides a major boost for the £19 million development of Shuttleworth Mead - the demolished Padiham power station site - into the Burnley area's biggest business park.

Council bosses are now working to secure final approval for the 73-acre scheme by first winning £15 million private sector support for the project.

The job creation agency English Partnerships has expressed "strong interest" in supporting the project and could give its own £1.6 million backing, says a report to Burnley councillors. The council aims to appoint a project manager for the redevelopment within weeks.

Key partners in the development have been named as Ribble Industrial Estates, Barnfield Construction Ltd of Nelson, National Power, the owners of the site, Burnley Council and English Partnerships.

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