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Wigan to become Europe's largest textile hub

25/02/2008

Plans for a £125 million textile manufacturing hub at Westwood Park in Wigan means the west Manchester borough is set to become a major centre of trade with China.

Wigan is destined to become home to Europe's largest clothing and textile industry and will be the European headquarters of a large number of Chinese companies.

The deal between Wigan and China is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs and 3,000 spin-off industries and lead to a boom in demand for hotel, office, and research and development facilities.

Wigan Council leader Lord Smith said: "Last month the prime minister said he wanted the UK to be the prime location in Europe for inward Chinese investment.

"In Wigan we are about to make that ambition a reality. Our borough was once at the heart of the region's textile industry and I am delighted that we will be once again."

Wigan's last working cotton mill, the May Mill, closed in 1980, following years of decline in the textile manufacturing industry, which was at its peak during the industrial revolution in the early 1800s.