A FORMER Burnley nightclub could be given a new lease of life as a halls of residence for the town’s rising student population.

Plans have been unveiled to convert the Circulaton Club in Holmes Street into a 64-bed development.

Supporters say it would not only cater for learners from the Burnley UCLan campus but University College of Football Business undergraduates and students from the international girls college (IGC) in Ormerod Road.

The proposals are the latest bid to cement Burnley’s fledgling ‘university town’ status, with the expansion of the £81million campus in Princess Way, UCFB and IGC centres.

The Lancashire Telegraph revealed last month that the Keirby Park Hotel had been acquired as additional student halls by UCFB – to complement the adapted former Sparrow Hawk Hotel in Church Street.

And ambitious blueprints have been drawn up to transform part of the former Shop Direct premises in Kingsway into a student village.

Diamond Investment are behind the latest attempt to corner the student market and bosses have identified the arson-hit former Pentridge Mill. In July 2010 no fewer than four separate small fires were set at the old Fulledge Works site before firefighters managed to contain the damage.

Planning agent Liam Ward said: “The reuse of the redundant building will be of use to the entire community. This part of Burnley is in need of some new economic and social activity.”

Mr Ward says that existing ‘garish’ signage would be removed and many of the windows, currently blocked-up, would be reinstalled.

And he claims that the development, over four floors with a retail store at street level, would act as a ‘buffer’ between its industrial neighbours and nearby residential streets.

The former nightclub has been home to a number of other ventures, including a kick-boxing club and strip club, but has been shut as a drinking venue for a number of years.