BACKERS of plans to create a major science centre on a site near Selby were celebrating today after hearing that Ministers will not order a public inquiry into the project.

The proposals for the £1billion European Spallation Centre (ESS) at Burn, which could bring an estimated 2,000 jobs to the area, were granted outline planning consent in September, subject to referral to the Government.

Now the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has confirmed it will not be "calling in" the plans for an inquiry. Gordon Holmes, the chairman of Burn Parish Council, said he was "surprised" there would be no inquiry.

"You never know what's going to happen with the Government," he said.

The decision means leaders behind the project have overcome a major planning hurdle, with councillors now expected to rubberstamp the application within a few months.

The development has been spearheaded by the White Rose University Consortium, made up of York, Leeds and Sheffield universities, along with regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

Reza Zadeh, Yorkshire Forward's head of business competitiveness, said: "This is a significant step forward for the proposal to build a world- class science facility in the region and the opportunity for significant inward investment in Yorkshire and in particular, regeneration of the North Yorkshire area.

"We have worked tremendously hard over the past two years to ensure that our application had considered and addressed all possible issues of relevance, and we are extremely pleased at the outcome of the referral to the Secretary of State.

"We have every intention of building a suitable world leading facility on the site at Burn, and the possibility of hosting the European Spallation Source remains an unrivalled opportunity to achieve our inward investment goal."

The huge science centre, which would pioneer research into molecular distribution, would be built on Burn Airfield. But it is still dependent on Government funding, and there are also rival bids to host it in Germany, Sweden and Hungary.

Coun Holmes said: "I'm very surprised it's not allowed to go to public inquiry, it's about the biggest thing to hit the Selby District Council area since the coalfield came."

Professor Tony Robards, HSBC Professor of Innovation at the University of York, said the news was "tremendous".

"It's very good news for the Yorkshire team who have worked so hard on this," he said.

"It's another hurdle that clears the way that in the event Europe does decide to develop the next generation of neutron generators, Burn will be very well placed to make that possible."

Updated: 10:06 Wednesday, January 11, 2006