A DERELICT factory site, which used to make aluminium aircraft parts during the Second World War, has been sold for more than £500,000.

The Aerlec Works was built in the North Worcestershire countryside so it could make supplies at a safe distance from the bombing that destroyed many factories in Birmingham and the Black Country.

Now property consultant John Truslove has arranged the sale of the 1.5-acre site at Stoke Prior, near Bromsgrove, to developer David Lambe Ltd.

The site, which cost £350,000 an acre, fronts the Birming-ham to Worcester Canal and has been renamed Waterside. Plans are already well advanced to turn it into an out-of-town office complex.

David Lambe Ltd, which has operated in Bromsgrove for 40 years with up to 20 people working for it at any one time, launched a clean-up operation on the land and spent £15,000 getting rid of asbestos.

The company is now building an office block to be called Connect House, which has been sold to Connect Business Systems.

David Lambe is to start work later this summer on two more blocks for which it has already received inquiries.

Managing director David Lambe said: "We were in competition for the site with a number of buyers and are delighted to have acquired it, even if we ended up paying more for it than I had hoped.

"It is a lovely spot and situated alongside the canal so it will provide staff working there with a spacious and airy environment as well as a pleasant view of narrow boats cruising along.

"At the same time, it is located right alongside the Hanbury Road and is only a short drive from Bromsgrove, Redditch, Worcester and both the M5 and M42, so it has excellent links with the rest of the Midlands and beyond."