A MULTI-MILLION pound motor dealership abandoned in June is back on the road.

Dixon Motors has decided to go ahead with plans to create a north Manchester base on land at Crostons Road in Bury.

The U-turn by the Doncaster-based Ford-franchise dealership could mean the creation of up to 100 new jobs for the town.

The company now expect its new headquarters to be fully operational by next year. The project, which was granted planning permission in November, 1999, could still include the creation of a two-storey showroom, a car body repair workshop and an external car sales area.

Dixon Motors will close and relocate its Derby Street operation in Bury to the Crostons Road site.

Bosses pulled the plug on the initial £6.5 million venture in June last year, blaming a collapse of the new and second hand car sales market for making the Crostons Road showroom development "uneconomical and unviable".

Having already bought and cleared the land of existing buildings, the company then applied for planning approval to turn the industrial site over to housing.

A letter to Bury Council's planning department explained that housing would be an appropriate form of development to "generate sufficient funds to enable Dixon to claw back" abnormally-high site clearance costs. The application was rejected by the local authority.

Now, the Bury Times can exclusively reveal Dixon Motors are to finally go ahead with the original project at Crostons Road.

In a statement, Mr Sal Ciullo, managing director of Dixon Motors Car retail Division, said: "Dixon is developing a brand new fully corporate dealership for Ford on the Crostons Road site. The existing Dixon Ford dealership on Derby Street will re-locate to Crostons Road once it is complete, and a Dixon Car Clinic and further dealership yet to be identified, will be added in due course.

"Dixon is committed to organic growth for our three key divisions; cars, bikes and body repair centres and this development is an important part of that strategy.

"Our aim is to be the number one in all areas of the group and we are already the number one retailer for bikes and number two in the accident repair market. All developments at Crostons Road will be completed during 2002."

The company declined to reveal the investment costs of the new dealership or confirm how many jobs would be created