PLANS to build a £7M health centre in a deprived area of Accrington have won the green light from Hyndburn councillors.

The scheme, put forward by Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Primary Care Trust (PCT), involves building the three-storey complex on land off Blackburn Road between Lonsdale Street and Leyland Street.

The PCT is looking to house six doctors' surgeries inside the building as well as facilities for district nurses and health visitors.

It is expected the site will also house a pharmacy and facilities to treat children, and will deal with mental and sexual health issues.

The centre won the enthusiastic backing of members of Hyndburn Council's Planning Committee last week.

After the meeting, Councillor Yvonne Wilson, chairman of the committee, said: "Support for this was unanimous. We were all for it. This will make a big difference to a lot of people with health conditions in Hyndburn.

"Every councillor had comments to make and they were all very positive."

Councillor Tim O'Kane said: "I am glad that this has gone through as anything which puts new facilities into the area has to be a good thing and everyone felt very positively about it."

John Rotherham, services redesign manager for Hyndburn and Ribble Valley PCT, said: "We are still looking at what services will be going into the building and we are hoping to start work by March or April.

"This will bring a lot of services into the area which will mean better health care for patients.

"This will be a state-of-the-art flagship building and it will be great news for Hyndburn."

The centre, which ties in with the Project Phoenix regeneration scheme, will be built by the East Lancashire Building Partnership.

This would be responsible for maintaining it for 25 years and during this period it would be rented by the PCT.