THE former Cosworth site in Warndon will be refurbished and reused for manufacturing - potentially offering jobs and hope after a difficult year for many Worcester workers.

Around 250 workers are believed to have lost their jobs at the casting foundry since the end of 2004, when Audi announced it would sell Cosworth Technology off for around £50m.

The Wainwright Road factory site, in Shire Business Park, has since been bought by property developers A & J Mucklow & Co Ltd who are waiting for the site to be fully cleared, before refurbishing the unit.

The Cradley Heath-based firm has now applied to Worcester City Council to change the site from factory use to a warehouse - and stressed they were keen to attract manufacturing to the city.

The good news comes in the same week as the former Kays catalogue company confirmed that up to 700 employees could lose their jobs when it pulls out of the city.

A & J Mucklow development director Stephen Murphy said: "The foundry plant inside Cosworth is being removed and we will refurbish the buildings, which are looking a little tired, and offer it to let.

"It would be nice to see manufacturing on the site for employment purposes.

"I believe planners will be quite flexible about whether it is a factory or warehouse if it offers jobs and supports the manufacturing industry in Worcester."

The firm is no stranger to the city having also developed the South Co Fastners Ltd site, also in Shire Business Park, earlier in the summer.

City planners said the application to alter the Cosworth site use was unlikely to be opposed.

A spokesman said: "It falls within the property use for the employment area. I don't envisage that it will prove controversial."

The redevelopment offers a welcome boost for secondary industry in Worcester, after 12 months in which Kays, Royal Worcester Porcelain and Cosworth - among others - announced job losses.

Chris Harvey, head of policy at the county's chamber of commerce, said: "It's good news. We were sorry when Cosworth announced they were going to wind down.

"It's especially good news that it will be kept for manufacturing, which has had a bad press in recent times but, in fact, this area is fully capable of having a strong manufacturing base."