THE long-term unemployed are to be targeted after supermarket bosses started a recruitment drive for around 500 new jobs in Hyndburn.

As part of a deal signed between Hyndburn Borough Council and shopping giant Tesco, anyone who has been unemployed or out of training or education for six months or more will be guaranteed an interview.

The move has been hailed as a ‘massive boost’ for the borough with the local economy still stuck in recession.

The £32million supermarket has been controversial with traders worried that it could be ‘the nail in the coffin’ of the town. But work is well underway at the supermarket site in Eagle Street and around 500 jobs are expected to be created.

Council leader Peter Britcliffe said: “At a time when we are emerging from recession it is a real boost. We made a clause that everyone who has been out of work for six months is given an interview and that is very important.

“Hundreds of new jobs for local people is great news for the borough.”

Tesco has also agreed to give £412,000 towards a landscaped open space between the store and the railway station.

And a further £450,000 has been pledged towards schemes such as Accrington’s new bus and station.

Objectors said Tesco would kill off existing business and turn the town centre into a ‘ghost town’.

Others feared the increase in traffic would create town centre gridlock.

Tesco has pledged to reduce traffic problems with scheduled deliveries to the store and signal improvements at Blackburn Road’s junctions.

Neil Skitt for Tesco said the store would claw back money being spent in other towns, rather than take trade away from town centre shops.