Mine development may create 100 jobs

There are a number of abandoned tin mines in Cornwall

Details are being finalised for a multi-million pound plan to develop the site of an historic Cornish tin mine.

A planning application will be submitted to Carrick District Council in the next few weeks to create a science and technology park at Mount Wellington near Redruth.

The scheme could cost up to £25 million and create 100 jobs.

The mine ceased production 11 years ago and the site is now overgrown and derelict.

Rural area

"We feel that a non-contentious way forward for part of the site would be to create a technology campus," said Paul Isherwood, the Worcestershire-based developer behind the scheme.

"It would be aimed at businesses that have pretty much parallel research going on so we can hopefully cross fertilise each other with different ideas and enhance the standard of intellectual property we create."

But some local people are concerned that their lives will be disrupted if the proposed development goes ahead.

"My main concern is that is it a very quiet rural area and any proposed activity will detract from what the area is like now," said Jane Shipway, who moved into her house near the site 18 months ago.

Developers have said most work on the site will be office and laboratory based and there will be little disruption.

Mr Isherwood said he hoped that people will be working at the site by autumn.