HUNDREDS of jobs could be created with the development of a new rail freight terminal in Cheshire.

The idea of a "freight village" has been proposed for an area of mainly disused land at Ditton and Hale Bank.

The development would comprise a cluster of firms providing road and rail freight transport and interchange facilities.

It could be possible to create upto 400,000 sq m of floor space.

The concept has been outlined in a North West Development Agency (NWDA) consultation paper.

It is one of 14 potential development sites added to an original list of 11 in the NWDA's Regional Strategy.

Halton Borough Council is now preparing to supply the NWDA with further information to strengthen its case for inclusion in the final list.

Last night, Halton borough councillor Rob Polhill said it was too early to speculate on the exact number of jobs the freight village might create, but said it was "likely to be in the hundreds."

He said: "Promotion of Ditton as a regional scale freight facility has enormous potential benefits for Halton.

"It would complement the council's overall regeneration objectives, create a significant number of jobs and trigger a major programme of land reclamation.

"Obviously it is very early days yet, but we have already had interest from developers which gives us great optimism.

"If the proposal is successful it will be a huge development with tremendous value considering the site has excellent road links and is only minutes from Liverpool Airport.

"It is also next to the west coast main line which would support the Government's aim to get freight off the road and on to the railways."

Coun Polhill, the council's executive board member for development, planning and transportation, added: "We are very pleased to have the valuable support of the NWDA in this proposal.

"We have already had their backing with the Daresbury Park development which has been an enormous success."

The freight village would incorporate the two existing users of the site, re-use redundant land and create a link road to the A5300 Knowsley Expressway.

The Widnes site was identified by the NWDA as a strategic employment site to be developed.

Runcorn's Daresbury Park was included in the original Regional Strategy list published in 1999 because of its potential for attracting knowledge-based industries.

An NWDA spokeswoman said: "The UK continues to be an attractive location within the European Union for inward investment.

"To benefit from this the North West region needs to identify and make available sites of the right type in the right location, which are attractive to companies and investors."

She added: "We expect to publish the finalised Regional Strategy list in early October after we have carried out a consultation with our regional partners.

"If the Widnes freight village concept is included in the list, we will then begin to look at how to secure the development of the site."