UP TO 100 jobs could be created if Hyndburn councillors give the go-ahead for a factory to expand its premises.

Joseph Metcalf Ltd, based in Brookside Lane, Oswaldtwistle, have submitted the outline bid to the Borough Council to extend their existing factory and build a new production unit on the site.

The planning application also states the intention of forming a new circulation road on the premises, creating car parking facilities and landscaping the area.

It is hoped the expansion will provide extra production and storage space on the site.

The development of the premises is necessary to ensure the survival of the business in the face of competition from larger companies. The garden retail firm has been established in Hyndburn for more than 100 years and was originally based in Accrington, relocating to Oswaldtwistle in 1973.

It manufactures fertilisers for commercial growers, local authorities and sports grounds throughout the United Kingdom.

Joseph Metcalf currently employs 135 members of staff at the Oswaldtwistle base: 27 office workers and 108 in storage and industry.

If plans are passed they intend to employ a total of 47 office staff and 188 industry and storage workers and they say they will be recruiting mainly local people.

The firm declined to comment further until the application had been considered by the council.

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