How appropriate then that Blackburn with Darwen Council should aim to turn a 6.5 hectare site alongside it into a business park for companies in the pharmaceutical, medical technology and biotechnology industries.

Of course getting such a business park off the ground will be an extremely difficult task - companies in such innovative areas don't set up new laboratories and offices every day.

But the effort is worth making because East Lancashire has a real need for the high-quality, high-skill jobs that would come with this kind of enterprise.

And once one or two firms are successfully persuaded to move to this kind of park their presence would itself attract others to follow.

We have already seen that sort of kickstart effect with various specialised engineering companies which set up in the area as British Aerospace expanded.

The project planned for Queen's Park could cost up to £10million to get going including a large chunk of public money.

But the spending is worthwhile as an investment to ensure that the brightest of our children will be able to find challenging work without having to leave the area.