THE expansion of an industrial estate could create 1,000 jobs in East Lancashire, a council leader has declared.

Elected members of Pendle Council approved a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to acquire land to extend the Lomeshaye Industrial Estate at Brierfield.

Council bosses the expansion would help to safeguard present jobs already on the site and could create an additional 1000 jobs.

The leader of Pendle Council, Paul White, said the bigger business park would support economic growth and the long term sustainability of neighbouring towns Brierfield and Nelson as well as the whole of East Lancashire.

The Conservative councillor said: “This plan will create a large number of additional jobs in the area - it could create up to 1,000 jobs.

“We are rapidly running out of industrial land and we will need more to attract investment in the borough as well as allow businesses to grow that exist on Lomeshaye already.

“The expansion will be beneficial for the whole of East Lancashire.”

The agricultural land which the council want to expand onto is adjacent to the Brierfield industrial estate, which is located at J12 of the M65 corridor between Burnley and Pendle. It extends to 19.19 hectares, of which 9.03 hectares are developable.

Executives set aside £400,000 for investment into the phase two extension last year, which was the required 10 per cent match funding needed to acquire the £4million grant from LEP Local Growth Fund. In order to receive the grant council bosses will need to have acquired the land and serviced it by March 2021.

Former council leader Mohammed Iqbal, of the Labour Group said: “Clearly the businesses are crying out for expansion.

“The idea of expanding Lomeshaye is something that I instigated and the council should look to do this as soon as possible.

“There is a big gap in employment opportunities in the area and this could help to rejuvenate employability in Pendle.”

The existing estate started off as sporadic small scale development in the 1980s but is now valued at £40million and presently houses around 100 businesses and employs between 3,500 and 4,000 people.

East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce chief executive Miranda Barker said: “It’s very good news for the area.

“Pendle like Burnley is a manufacturing immersed area but unlike its neighbours does not have as high employment rate and there is a need to capitalise on the success of Lomeshaye and what it brings to the local area.

“It’s significant in East Lancashire and with planned improvements over the next few years, such as road connectivity towards east and west of the county, it could become a high success.”