THIS is the sprawling East Lancashire business park that developers insist will still be built — despite a double blow.

Bosses behind the Burnley Bridge site in Hapton are ‘very confident’ it will go ahead, even though £3.5million of public funding has been withdrawn and home shopping firm Findel’s move to its biggest unit has been thrown into doubt.

The 70-acre development, next to junction nine of the M65, has been redesigned after the North West Development Agency (NWDA) cash offer was withdrawn following a Government cuts.

The business park is now expected to create 1,400 private sector jobs, instead of earlier estimates of 1,650.

And a new NHS mental health hospital is set to take up more of the site in a bid to save the project from collapse.

Meanwhile, West Yorkshire-based Eshton Group is confident Findel will still take the site’s anchor unit, despite the firm admitting the move is ‘under review’.

Eshton managing director James Chapman also insisted other companies could be lured to Burnley Bridge.

He said: “We remain very positive. There has been significant interest in the park from both national and local companies, with serious enquiries ranging from large 200,000 sq ft distribution centres to smaller industrial units”

It is understood that the NHS could now agree to take more land at the Burnley Bridge site, meaning the loss of NWDA funding would not deal a hammer blow.

Health chiefs are in talks about how much they require from Eshton Group for the 180-bed hospital.

Lancashire Care NHS Trust said: “The trust has been working with site developer Eshton on our plans for a new NHS in-patient facility on this site, which would equate to approximately one quarter of the overall Burnley Bridge development.”

Last month, the NWDA confirmed it would not honour an agreement to provide £3.5million for Burnley Bridge following Government cuts.

However, developers will still get £4.2million of European funding.