Two of Pendle’s biggest firms have teamed up to help one of them expand.

Earby automotive firm Wardle Storeys has sold its main site to Barnfield Construction so it can invest in new machinery and other equipment.

The deal will see Wardle lease back the site from Barnfield over an initial 10 year tie-up. It will also see 8,000 sq ft of new offices and a new 30,000 sq ft warehouse built.

The older buildings will be knocked down to make way for a housing development.

Bosses at the two firms said the deal suited both cash-rich Barnfield and Wardle, which needed money to grow.

Allun Hall, managing director of Wardle Storeys, which employs 250 people in Grove Street, Earby, said: “In order to build up our business again we needed capital to invest into new machinery and plant. Selling our land for a lump sum and leasing it back from a well-established property development company like Barnfield is the perfect way to do this.”

The seeds of the deal for the 16-acre site were sown by Mr Hall and Barnfield boss Tim Webber at a meeting of the Pendle Vision Board.

The board is made of up business representatives in the borough who try to stimulate growth. As part of the deal, Barnfield must now submit planning applications for new houses on the site.

If approved, the warehouse and offices for Wardle Storeys will be built.

Barnfield said it hoped to submit an application to Pendle Council planners by the end of the year.

The firm, which employs more than 250 people across East Lancashire, is responsible for developments including Boundary Mill in Colne and Stanley House Hotel in Mellor, near Blackburn.