Bosses at St Paul's Developments plc plans to change the former Oxiris chemical plant, on Common Lane, into a mixed-use site including "offices, light industrial units, housing and associated amenities", creating a future jobs boost for the area.

The company has not been put off by the recession and has just appointed a project manager, RVA Group, to oversee the decommissioning and decontamination of the hazardous site before the eventual submission of a planning application.

David Elliott, managing director of the South Yorkshire-based developer, said: "Unlocking a site of this kind will create a range of job opportunities to offset losses incurred in recent times."

The plant, which officially closed last summer, had provided jobs for the last 70 years under its various owners which included Midland Yorkshire Tar, Croda, Shell, Inspec and Degussa.

Mr Elliott said the decommissioning of the 25-acre plant will be complex because many of the chemicals it produced were of a hazardous nature.

He said RVA Group will be on site until the end of August and said: "Work is progressing well. Once all the structures have been removed, the next step will be to finalise the planning application before commencing with ground reclamation works."

Knottingley Coun Graham Stokes said he is looking forward to finding more out about the plans.

He said: "Any development like this, with the credit crunch situation as it is, must be good news for Knottingley and local people and jobs. It would be nice to have some mixed-development, with perhaps some leisure as well as housing."