A NEW £2million train station is to help workers and shoppers get to the heart of Blackburn's growing business district.

The station, to be funded by European cash, should enable thousands of people to commute to jobs at Whitebirk, Greenbank and nearby business parks.

Work should begin on site early next year and be completed in 2008.

Trains on the Blackpool South to Colne route - which stops at Pleasington, Cherry Tree, Mill Hill, Blackburn, Rishton, Accrington, Huncoat, Hapton, Rosegrove, Burnley, Brierfield, Nelson and Colne - currently pass through the area.

There are now plans to run a bus service from the new station around local business parks, including the Latern Business Park, a new complex planned for a 90-acre site straddling Blackburn and Hyndburn's boundary.

It is also hoped other services will be introduced on the site when the station is open.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has been told it has secured the cash by Government Office North West, which administers European cash allocated to the region.

The plans were welcomed by workers today. Alan Cronshaw, 55, a security guard at United Utilities, said: "I think it's a brilliant idea.

"A lot of people are using cars to get to work and there is always a bottle-neck on the roads here between 9am and 11am."

Joby Crossland, 19, a worker at Planet Welding, said: "I would definitely use it, it would save me a lot of walking about to and from work."

Danny Pickard, also 19, from Shadsworth, said: "I probably wouldn't use it myself because I only live a short distance away in Shadsworth but I think a lot of people who work around here would definitely use it."

Coun Andy Kay, in charge of regeneration at the council, said: "Thousands of people are already employed in close proximity to this new station and this will improve public transport access to the site immensely.

"It will also make it even more attractive to the firms looking to move in.

"Local services will stop there, making it easier for people in places like Burnley and Darwen to get to the area."

Michael Damms, chief executive of East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, said the new station was enormously important.

He added: "Without a sensible public transport system and places like Whitebirk and Greenbank, East Lancashire just becomes a residential area without a purpose."

Talks are ongoing with Hyndburn Council over a number of developments on the border of the two authorities - including an expansion of the out-of-town shopping park at Whitebirk owned by Manchester development company Peel.

Hyndburn's executive member for economy and employment, Coun Peter Clarke, said: "I hope they don't make a mess of this station like they did with Blackburn.

"Having said that, I am open-minded about this. If it's done in the right way, it could be beneficial to us and other parts of East Lancashire."