PLANS for the development of Southern Towngate into a retail and leisure complex have been announced.

The blighted Leyland car park has been sold by Metrolands to an Essex-based company which aims to build a bright new shopping area with a traditional market, leisure facilities and some residential properties.

The news follows 30 years of negotiating, false hopes and set backs for the local authority which has held hundreds of meetings with the owners Food Giant.

The move has been welcomed by local council, businesses and residents alike.

Council leader Tony Kelly said: "This is probably the best thing Metrolands has ever done. It's a brilliant Christmas present.

"And as someone who has lived in Leyland all my life I can understand the frustration over the past few years. It is great to say that this is now coming to an end."

Plans for the area, once dubbed a 'bomb site' by the Town Centre Rescue Group, are expected to be available for public consultation by early next year.

But chair of the development services committee Tom Hanson insisted the scheme must be right for the town as well as commercially viable.

He said: "Leyland has had a long and frustrating wait and we must make sure that the town can be proud of what is built."

Lansbury director Nicholas Madden said the firm had previously worked with the likes of Safeway, Currys, WH Smith, as well as some of the high street banks. He said this development would be done in association with Henry Starnes Ltd and a Lancashire firm of architects with good local knowledge.

He said: "We are looking forward to progressing this opportunity with the South Ribble.

"We believe Leyland will benefit enormously from the new shopping facilities as many of the local residents are currently travelling out of town due to the shortage of local, modern shopping facilities."

A spokesperson for the council said activity to get the scheme underway would start as soon as possible with ground engineers inspecting the site and taking soil tests. The council is now looking at other areas of Towngate and Hough Lane with a view to upgrade them.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.