Scottish developer Miller Developments has said it is still committed to developing the 7m sq ft Omega business park in Warrington in the Northwest.

Nick Harris, director of Miller and Omega Warrington ñ the development consortium comprising Miller, Royal Bank of Scotland and English Partnerships, said its vision for the Omega scheme ëremained very much the same ñ to be the number one destination in the regioní.

It follows a report published yesterday by the North West Development Agency from its last meeting in which it said it would not help fill a funding shortfall at the scheme.

Miller plans a 7m sq ft office and industrial scheme at the site which was formerly the Burtonwood air base.

The NWDA board said Miller and its backer the Royal Bank of Scotland that `it would be more appropriate for support to potentially protect the site to come from a private investor'.

Plans for the redevelopment of the site have been in the pipeline for more than 20 years. The NWDA said ëthe strategic rationale for Omega is not in 2008 what it was in 2002í.

Omega also faces competition from MEPCís Birchwood Park scheme and Muse and United Utilitiesí Lingley Mere business park.

NWDA chief executive Steve Broomhead said: ëGiven changes in the market, the original masterplan for Omega's office development in later phases should be reconsidered, and we are urging Warrington council, Miller and the Royal Bank of Scotland to sit down with us and reconsider.í

Millerís Harris said there was considerable interest in the industrial element of the scheme ñ called Omega North ñand that occupiers would be trading from the site next year.

The scale of the site and consequential development timescales clearly mean that Omega will not be deliverable overnight,í he said. ëAs a result, Miller is currently working with a number of stakeholders including the NWDA, English Partnerships and Warrington Borough Council on a range of options for the site.

Omega is a long-term project and as an experienced developer in long-term development sites, we know that this is the appropriate course of action at the current time.