MORE than 20 UK firms are interested in developing key sites across Bolton, after the town's first appearance at an international property development summit.

A team led by Keith Davies, Bolton Council's director of development and regeneration, took part in a series of presentations at the Marche International des Professionnels d'Immobilier (MIPIM) conference in Cannes. They were part of a delegation from the Manchester city region.

And one South-west company has already expressed an interest in opening a northern headquarters in Bolton, after the event.

Bolton's delegation used the summit to unveil the Bolton Innovation Zone, a 38 hectare site for commerce and leisure, which is expected to generate around 4,000 jobs and attract £300 million worth of private investment to the town over the next ten years.

Mr Davies said: "From our perspective, the visit was a huge success. We achieved even more than we expected.

"Contacts that we made and the awareness that we built up within the developer community were hugely significant.

"The irony is that not only were we meeting national developers out there, but we also met Bolton developers who have been doing a lot of work elsewhere but had not previously considered Bolton as an investment destination.

"Now we are talking to them, and at least one is already interested in the development potential within Bolton town centre."

"We will release details of the Innovation Zone to potential developers at the end of the summer and, as a result of this visit, we have generated interest in this development and other sites around Bolton."

MIPIM is the world's leading real estate and property summit and this year's event attracted more than 25,000 property development decision-makers from around the world, including 30 local authorities and public bodies from the UK.

Paul Simpson, deputy chairman of Marketing Manchester, which led the city team, said: "Having Bolton along certainly added to our appeal and made this year's event the most successful we have done."

Colin Sinclair, chief executive of MIDAS, an investment agency which caters for businesses all over Greater Manchester, praised Bolton's approach to securing strategic investment, and the way it is now positioning itself alongside Manchester.

He said, "Bolton is doing to Manchester what Manchester has done to London, by demonstrating it is not a rival, but a complementary development offer."