A TECHNOLOGY park for Bromsgrove - promising 350 new jobs - has got the go-ahead from the district council.

Advantage West Midlands will now be moving ahead with construction work on the 23 acre site formally owned by Garringtons, and latterly by United Engineering Forgings.

The infra-structure should be completed by next summer but already plots of three-quarters of an acre and five acres are being marketed.

Also, next to the site, Persimmon Homes are building 500 dwellings, with 300 already completed.

Deputy leader of the district council, Cllr Rita Taylor (Con-Linthurst), said: "The technology park is very good news, especially after the Longbridge redundancies.

"Although the jobs won't be the same type, younger workers are being encouraged to retrain."

She added that councillors firmly believed in the concept that jobs should be near homes.

Advantage West Midlands has spent the past two years preparing the land for development in partnership with the council and Persimmon Homes.

Bromsgrove Technology Park is one of the flagship projects in the Central Technology Belt - a high technology corridor linking Birmingham with South Worcestershire.

It aims to attract long term technology-driven businesses to the region.

Chief executive of Advantage West Midlands, John Edwards, said: "The idea was born out of the original Rover Task Force.

"We know that around 600 former Rover employees live in the Bromsgrove area so this is especially good news in the longer term for employment prospects."

l The technology park plans follows news this week that 1,200 jobs may be created on the Longbridge site by the Chinese automobile company Nanjing.