A MULTI-million pound project to build a new training centre for army cadets is under way in Ramsbottom.

Work on the £5m centre at the Holcombe Moor training camp in Ramsbottom began on Monday.

The new site will provide a weekend training centre with 202 beds for young army cadets across Greater Manchester.

A second building will house the County Headquarters of the Army Cadet Force (ACF) and its staff.

Junior soldiers completing a 42-week training scheme in Harrogate will also use the centre as a base during the week.

Cadets from across the region joined the Mayor of Bury, Councillor Sheila Magnall, and Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, Colonel Warren Smith, to make the first dig at Monday’s ceremony.

Work is expected to take a year with developers, Conlon Construction Ltd, expecting to finish by September 2010.

The project has been commissioned by Defence Infrastructure and is being managed by the North West and Isle of Man Reserve Forces and Cadets’ Association (RFCA).

Colonel Gerry Wells-Cole, chief executive of the North West and Isle of Man RFCA, said the “exciting” project will cater for an expanding cadet force.

He said: “The current facility at Ramsbottom is wholly inadequate and outdated and this new facility will provide the youth of Greater Manchester with state-of-the-art accommodation next door to a training area where cadet military and adventurous training can be carried out.

“We are delighted that the Lord Lieutenant agreed to mark this special occasion by ‘turning the turf’.”

Greater Manchester ACF has 45 detachments across the county.

The centre in Ramsbottom will be used by other youth organisations such as the Air Training Corps and the Sea Cadet Corps.