DREAMS of creating a giant extreme sports and leisure centre have moved a step closer.

The scheme has now secured £80,000 to carry out a detailed feasibility study into developing the idea.

The multi-million pound scheme to create a state-of-the-art Rossendale Adrenalin Centre would transform Rossendale's disuse quarries into a magnet for tourists.

And it would inject new life into Lee Mill and Greens Moor quarries above Bacup and Stacksteads.

The proposals include the relocation of Ski Rossendale to the new site and the creation of a massive 500m main ski slope, an intermediate slope, two specialist snowboard runs, a 1,500-capacity aprs-ski centre and extensive nursery facilities.

Leisure bosses hope the centre will house England's premier mountain biking facility and provide a wide range of activities, including paragliding and dry sledging, as well as horse riding, archery and large-scale art work.

They also plan to use the quarries as natural amphitheatres for open-air summer music concerts.

Rossendale's Local Strategic Partnership secured funding for the study and if plans go ahead the centre will be operational in five to eight years.

Gary Hood, executive director of Rossendale Leisure Trust, said: "The adrenalin centre will be of international significance.

"The feasibility study is to test the concept to find out first its feasible and second whether the sites that have initially been chosen will work.

"We will be conducting surveys to find out the kind of impact it would have on the local community and how we can manage the project to be in unison with the local landscape.

"We will also be looking at the transport infrastructure to see if it's strong enough or needs to be adapted for such a facility and to see what the economic impacts would be."

He said the next step would be to submit proposals to the Big Lottery Fund to see if the plans would get through the first stage to release a further sum of money to develop the whole project.

Mr Hood added: "We will then look at commercial partners and what funding would be available for such a project as we are not talking about small sums of money - it's life changing figures.

"It's impossible to say at this stage whether it will go ahead but there are a lot of people out there who are enthusiastic about the project."

The study is set to be completed by March 2006 and a decision by the Big Lottery Fund is expected in May.

The scheme would link in with Rossendale Valley of Stone, a major environmental heritage project led by Groundwork Rossendale and backed by English Heritage money.