THE site of a former Kidderminster company is up for sale - two years after the firm closed with the loss of 100 jobs.

Hopes are high that the 16-acre former Folkes Forge site will become a hi-tech business park.

The location off Stourport Road has outline planning permission for business units and a new traffic-light controlled junction onto the main road.

It is on the market through Folkes Properties and spokesman Andrew Parker said early interest was encouraging.

"Land in and around Birmingham is rumoured to have reached £450,000 per acre, making towns like Kidderminster a more attractive proposition while also offering a better working environment and quality of life," he said.

The site houses a 1960s 216,000 sq ft factory, the first purpose-built heavy forge developed in the UK since 1900, capable of forging 40-ton ingots.

Folkes Forge - part of a Lye-based parent group which had been in operation for eight generations - closed in September 2000.

Its closure followed the resignation of Folkes Group chairman and chief executive Constantine Folkes amid an Inland Revenue probe into the tax affairs of the group. Mr Folkes subsequently paid the group £3.5 million in advance of the outcome of the inquiry.