CHORLEY is officially booming -- and the future looks even brighter! The town was this week named as one of the fastest growing in the North West and beyond.

The official electoral roll shows Chorley has nearly 1,000 more residents than at this time last year, with 79,428 people registered.

And the population is expected to mushroom when one of the UK's largest urban village projects, Buckshaw Village with its 2,000 new homes on the former site of Euxton's Royal Ordnance factory, is fully opened in 2005.

The news has raised concerns about how services will cope with the added pressure.

Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle said: "Questions will now have to be raised in Parliament about how local services can be expected to cope.

"We must ensure we are backing up the rise in population with more funding for the town. It is important our health services, our police force, our schools, get proper investment to cope.

"Do we have enough doctors, nurses, school places, community facilities? All these questions have to be answered."

Mr Hoyle has already raised the issue of health in the House of Commons. Yesterday he claimed that Chorley's NHS budget does not reflect increases in the local population. Health Minister Dr John Reid vowed to look into the situation.

The news of the town's expansion has been welcomed by business leaders.

Chairman of Chorley's Chamber of Trade Peter Wilding said: "The growth in population means we can look forward to increasing prospects for trade in Chorley."

Business in Chorley has already benefited from the population rise, with just two units left at the thriving Ackhurst Business Park.

Buckshaw Village, which will eventually have its own railway station, will provide 2.25million square feet of business space and create 5,600 jobs.

And council leader Jack Wilson said: "I am really delighted that our population is flourishing.

"Chorley is a really nice place to live and that's proven in the growth figures.

"It's very encouraging to know more and more people are choosing to live here."

The fastest growing areas are Euxton North ward, which has 174 new residents, and Adlington and Anderton, with a growth of 125 people.

Some 600 more homes are also being built in space opened up by the Gillibrand Link Road, which opened in 2003.

Signs that the town is thriving are already in evidence.

A multi-million pound development is taking place in Union Street to provide a new Booths supermarket by winter 2005 and pub chain JD Wetherspoons is expected to formalise plans for a new pub soon.

A new 71-space car park for shoppers at Gillibrand Street is being considered by planners, and the future of Chorley's indoor and outdoor markets is undergoing consideration from the council's scrutiny committee.

Some £2.5million has already been invested in the new travel interchange, £450,000 is being invested in the town's railway station and plans are being drawn up for the future of the town's markets.

But applications for Chorley's high schools are down across the board, suggesting that many of Chorley's new residents do not have young families.

Brian Souter, deputy head at Southlands High School, said: "We find it hard to believe admissions are down when the population is growing, but we do know that over the next six years we will not have as many applications as we normally do due to low admission levels at primary schools, and as far as we know , the same goes for other high schools in Chorley."

What to you think the future holds for Chorley? Write with your views to Letters to the Editor, The Citizen, 45-47 Pall Mall, Chorley, PR7 3LT.