A MULTI-MILLION pound bid is being launched to create a learning, leisure and sports complex in Consett.

The heart of the town was ripped out - and 3,700 jobs lost -when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher closed the town's British Steel Works in 1980.

Derwentside District Council's efforts to regenerate the site, known as Berry Edge, gave birth to Project Genesis. This succeeded in selling some of the land for hundreds of new houses and attracting national firms to a new retail park. And in 2002, Derwentside College opened a £6.5m campus at Berry Edge.

This week council and college bosses announced a £20m partnership project for part of the remaining 650-acre site that will create new leisure and sports facilities. It is still in the planning stages and reliant on the support of the full council and a bid for Government funding.

If these fall into place, the site could open as early as 2007.

College principal David Houpt said: "This is not a drill. This is not just a pipedream.

"This is a deadly serious business and will be a very exciting development for the whole community - if we can bring it off."

Council leader Alex Watson said: "This is an absolutely unique project that will integrate the commercial sector with the education sector. It is sustainability in the true sense of the word, from a social, economic and environmental perspective.

"It has been a long time coming, but people will appreciate that these things don't happen overnight."

The college car park will be moved slightly to the north, to make way for new buildings. These would house two swimming pools, a spa, gym, soft play, sports hall, indoor bowls, squash courts and changing rooms.

A footbridge over Genesis Way will lead to the new home of Consett FC. This will consist of a full-size football pitch, grandstand and function room, plus boys and girls changing facilities.

Alongside it will be up to nine junior-size football pitches, an all- weather pitch, and three tennis courts.

For the college, there will be new hair and beauty facilities offering treatments to the public, as well as a greatly expanded sports and leisure curriculum.

"It would respond to the challenge that any rural town like this faces, which is that things are bigger and better in the metropolis," said Mr Houpt.

"Customers presently travelling to Tyneside or the MetroCentre for leisure facilities will start to look closer to home."

Some of the services will be run jointly between the two agencies, such as the creche and reception areas. Students presently using the college buildings next to the Louisa Centre in Stanley would be brought back to the main campus, freeing up the Stanley site for adult education projects.

The college has submitted a funding bid to the Learning and Skills Council for its part of the project. Mr Houpt said: "I have no doubt that we will get some sort of support for some schemes. We will know their initial response to this within a matter of weeks."