Wigan set for textile commercial property boost

Wigan is set to benefit from the multi-million pound development of a new textile manufacturing hub within the town.

The £125 million scheme will be based at Westwood Park and will provide one million square feet of commercial property over a 55-acre area.

The development, known as Chinagateway, will provide England's north-west with manufacturing ties with China and its textile industry.

Peter Smith, leader of the Wigan Council, revealed that the scheme would help to attract a raft of investment from the Far East.

"The prime minister says he wants the UK to be the prime location in Europe for inward Chinese investment. In Wigan we are about to make that ambition a reality," he said.

"The strength and dynamism of the world's fastest growing economy is being transplanted into the heart of North West England, and Wigan is ideally positioned to reap the benefit for the wider region," he added.

Meanwhile, Harlow Council has chosen Stockland Halladale as the preferred developer for the regeneration of its town centre.

If planning permission is granted for the scheme, building work could begin by 2010.