THE 30-year wait is over - work is due to start at Towngate in Leyland within three months.

A mystery developer wants give the town, near Preston, a complete revamp to include a new covered market and a mixture of retail, leisure and residential units, to transform the centre by the year 2000.

The developer - who is buying the land from Metrolands - has been involved in months of negotiations with South Ribble Council to ensure the scheme is right.

Councillor Tony Kelly, leader of the council, said: "We said we would get the southern Towngate development moving - and that is just what we have done.

"We've worked closely with Metrolands in bringing forward the right developer for this site and we're delighted. The area will soon have new life breathed into it."

And Chair of the Development Services Committee - which will consider detailed plans for the site - Councillor Tom Hanson said shoppers would see a new town centre by the millennium.

He said: "The scheme is one with which we're very happy and we're confident that, once complete, it will give a new lease of life to Leyland. It will be transformed and we're not talking about years. We want to see it well on it's way by 1999."

Plans will be discussed by the development committee soon and then go before full council.

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