PROJECT leaders firming up plans to create a £50 million sports, leisure and entertainment complex in Redditch have been consulting the bosses of a massive environmental project in Cornwall.

The Redditch complex, to be built on the site of Abbey Stadium, is to include a snowdome, a multi-screen cinema, an ice rink and a training centre and is set to be completed by the end of 2004.

Last week, Redditch Council officers, representatives from Advantage West Midlands and the Learning Skills Council met the people responsible for the hugely successful Eden Project.

Redditch Council's director of cultural and development services Paul Patten said the consultation was set up to see how tourism in Cornwall was affected and how the Eden Project impacted on the community.

He said: "We spoke to people behind the Eden Project and also the county council, the district council and the college about the project.

"We looked at how they had done it, how it had been operating and what we could learn from them to take back to our project."

Mr Patten said the training scheme set up in preparation for the Eden Project was also looked at in great detail.

"The training centre will be the first thing we build," he said.

"We need to make sure townsfolk are skilled to take on the hundreds of jobs which will be created."