A FORMER Jaguar dealership which has become an ‘eyesore’ after being closed for years is being lined up to be brought back into use.

The showroom in Grimshaw Park, Blackburn, will re-open as a Northgate vehicle hire and sales centre if a new planning application is successful.

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It is a number of years since the Jaguar dealership closed down and the site has remained vacant ever since.

In a planning document submitted with the request to change the use of the site from a motor dealership to vehicle hire and sales, a spokesman for England and Lyle Chartered Town Planners said: “The site has fallen into a general state of disrepair due to the extended period of inactivity and detracts from the character and appearance of the streetscene in its current vacant form.

"The site is currently occupied by a vehicle showroom building, with the remainder of the site being formed by a hardsurfaced yard area to the rear and an external vehicle display area to the front of the building.”

Planning consent was granted in December 2009 to change the site use to retail but it expired two years ago.

Northgate is the country’s largest rental provider with 100,000 commercial vehicles in the UK and Spain. It has more than 60 existing depots and employs 3,000 people.

If successful, planners said the reuse of the site would create up to 10 full and part-time jobs.

The spokesman added: “The proposals are considered to be entirely complementary to the surrounding land uses.

They will contribute positively to the overall physical, social, environmental and economic character of the area.”

Queens Park councillor Salim Mulla said: “At this moment in time it looks a mess. It has become an eyesore very close to the town centre.

“It could do with being brought back into life and I would support this plan.

“The other thing is the new jobs it will create. Anything that creates employment has to be welcomed.”