THE new Selby bypass is to deliver its first jobs bonanza.

District council chiefs today unveiled plans to develop more than 100 acres of land, opened up by the road.

The multimillion-pound scheme, taking in land at the rear of BOCM and Potter Group and bordered by the bypass and the River Ouse, is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs on Selby's doorstep.

Selby Council is now working in partnership with inward investment agency york-england.com, development agency Yorkshire Forward and North Yorkshire County Council to develop a new business park.

The council says it is "open to ideas", including proposals for light industry, freight-related business and offices.

There are also plans to construct a new access road into the site from a nearby roundabout on the bypass.

Other proposals include a hotel, crche and leisure activities for workers on the site.

Eileen Scothern, the council's economic development officer, said talks had already started with the landowners, which include BOCM and Potter Group.

She said the council would be launching a full-scale consultation exercise with local residents and businesses later in the year.

The new development has already been dubbed Washington Park after the 14th century Washington Window in Selby Abbey.

The window commemorates John de Washington, a Prior at the Abbey, who came from the same family tree as George Washington.

The window bears the Washington family arms.

Council leader Mark Crane said of the new development: "This is a really exciting time for Selby, and we are keen to get everyone who lives or works in the area involved in the decisions."

The ambitious project is also seen as going some way towards replacing the 3,000 jobs lost as a result of pit closures.

The council's economy board chairman, Coun Brian Percival, said: "This development will take Selby on a quantum leap from 1974, when planning permission was given for the Selby coalfield, to 2014."

Updated: 12:40 Wednesday, October 06, 2004