ESTABLISHING East Lancashire as a major destination for extreme sports enthusiasts could provide a raft of business opportunities, according to leisure chiefs.

The past three years have seen the development of the Pennine Lancashire Adrenaline Gateway, a concept aimed at utilising area’s landscape and natural assets for sports such as mountain biking, cycling and watersports.

Lee Quarry, near Stacksteads, has already been transformed from a derelict site into a trail for mountain bike enthusiasts and other locations have been earmarked for development.

Gary Hood, chairman of the Adrenaline Gateway Project Group and Rossendale Leisure Trust, said: “When we start to link all the aspects together we can see what the business opportunities are.

“These could benefit people running operating facilities, leading courses and filter down to those who own bike shops in the area.”

Mr Hood said the Adrenaline Gateway concept was in the early stages but would spread across all East Lancashire boroughs.

As well as Lee Quarry there are other attractions under the Adrenaline Gateway banner such as Pendle’s annual cycling festival, water sports in Whitworth and the mountain bike trail through Gisburn Forest.

The creation of East Lancashire as an adrenaline sports hotbed has also been welcomed by business leaders keen to reap the area’s appeal for economic gain.

Mike Damms, chief executive of East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce and supporter of the project, believes the prospects for employment and economic growth on the back of this project are huge.

He added: “I think it makes good sense to build an economic future on your natural assets which the Pennines are.

“There is a target audience of eight million people in the North West which we can tap into and get them to spend their money within East Lancashire.”