A £4 MILLION army cadet training centre is to be built at Holcombe Army Training Camp.

Subject to no objections from the local planning authority, work on Greater Manchester Army Cadet Force's new HQ and weekend training centre would start in September and be completed by the end of 2005.

The 150-bed facility and separate HQ building would replace the Army Cadet Force (ACF) headquarters in Manchester and the existing training centre in Crow Lane, Ramsbottom. Greater Manchester has one of the strongest county cadet forces in the country.

In a notification statement from North West Reserve Forces and Cadets Association to Bury Council, the report states: "The existing weekend training centre in Ramsbottom being separated from its County HQ in Manchester does not make best use of Reserve Forces civilian, manpower and transport facilities.

The proposal, therefore, is that they should be collocated.

"A training centre based at Holcombe Moor provides a unique opportunity for the building to be used as a 'Centre of Excellence' for outward bound pursuits, particularly the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme."

The Defence Estates and the Regular Army Estate have agreed that land close to the guard room at Holcombe ATC can be made available for the new buildings.

Although it would be build in Green Belt protected land, it would not lie within a Site of Biological Importance.

The centre would include male and female dormitories for cadets and adult instructors, shower facilities, dining and lecture rooms, a training hall, office space and a bar.

As the land is owned by the Ministry of Defence, only an "objection or no objection" response to the scheme is sought from Bury's planning bosses.