ROSSENDALE Council looks set to support plans for a multi-million pound state-of-the-art health centre in Bacup.

Proposals for the centre, which will house three GP practices, a dental suite, a pharmacy and other health services, will go before the council's development control committee next week with a recommendation of approval.

The plan is to build a five-floor building on the site of the partly demolished Irwell Mill. The surviving sections of the mill are to be restored and connected to the new structure by a glazed link.

If the plans are given the go-ahead work could start next month and the centre could be open to patients by Easter 2005.

It could be the first centre in the country to be built as part of the LIFT project - a private and public sector link-up between developers and health trusts to provide new, modern health facilities that bring services up to the standards required by the NHS.

East Lancashire health chiefs chose Bamber Bridge-based developers the Eric Wright Group as their partner and £65million will be invested in the next five to seven years in transforming and building new health centres across East Lancashire. Proposals are also under way in Nelson and Darwen.

Richard Turpin, from the Eric Wright Group, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for Bacup. If we can get planning permission and hit our target start on site it will be one of the first LIFT schemes to be delivered in the country - that has got to be a good thing for Bacup."

Concerns had been raised that the original design failed to reflect the character of Bacup town centre conservation area but changes have been made to the plans and no objections have been raised by the public or any of the statutory consultees, including English Heritage and the Bacup Consortium.