MORE jobs could be created at a new Ulverston industrial site that should be fully occupied by the spring.

Three businesses are hoping to be up and running on Low Mill Business Park within the next couple of months. A deal to secure the last remaining one-and-half-acre plot is also almost complete.

The offer by Ulverston firm Furness Engineering Technology Limited (FETL) to buy the plot on North Lonsdale Road has been accepted by the owner of the business park, South Lakeland District Council.

The legal contracts are now being drawn up and the engineering company, currently based at Ellers Mill, is expecting to hear if a bid for an enterprise grant to finance the cost of the move has been successful by the end of the month.

One of the directors and general manager at FETL Tim Redshaw said he was not expecting any problems with the grant.

"We got the nod from SLDC that we can buy the plot just before Christmas and we are just waiting to find out about the grant," he said.

FETL was set up in 1979 and currently employs 55 staff and 18 contractors. Mr Redshaw said the move to Low Mill was needed for the company to develop.

"There is an increased requirement for the work we do. If we don't move thERE won't be any more job opportunities but if we do there should be more opportunities, but I can't say for definite."

Three of the plots have been sold to electronics manufacturer Bender UK, which is relocating from Barrow; architectural blacksmith Chris Brammall, currently based at Graythwaite, near Newby Bridge; and Accurite, which is relocating from Dalton-in-Furness.

The three companies are not planning to expand their workforce immediately but hope to in the near future. They all plan to be up and running at Low Mill within the next couple of months.

The last plot on the site is already used by Welfare State International for storage but it is hoped more jobs could be created if SLDC goes ahead with the development of stage two of the business park.

Economy and development manager for SLDC Richard Greenwood said the council had agreed to expand the park to create an extra ten factory sites in principal, and technical tests were being carried out.

He told the Gazette: "We need to know specifications for the roads and drains which would need to be created. We also need to check if the area is contaminated.

"We are just waiting for the results of the tests before we can apply for European funding, but if all goes well we would like to see some major progress on the site during this year."

January 10, 2003 14:30