AN £8 MILLION expansion scheme at one of East Anglia's most popular holiday parks is set to create a jobs bonanza.Although the major villa and state-of-the-art aqua sauna development at Center Parcs in Elveden was planned long before the September 11 terrorist atrocities, the work will help cater for the extra demand it has caused, bosses said yesterday.

AN £8 MILLION expansion scheme at one of East Anglia's most popular holiday parks is set to create a jobs bonanza.

Although the major villa and state-of-the-art aqua sauna development at Center Parcs in Elveden was planned long before the September 11 terrorist atrocities, the work will help cater for the extra demand it has caused, bosses said yesterday.

Fifty extra three and four bedroom villas, and new facilities at the aqua sauna including an extra restaurant – will be constructed if planning permission is granted.

Chiefs at the holiday village, which will grow by more than five per cent if the scheme goes ahead, were unable to say exactly how many jobs would be created.

A spokeswoman said the scheme would bring the holiday village at Elveden in line with the firm's two other complexes across the country.

New treatments to be included in the scheme include a Turkish and Hammam steam room, a Greek herbal bath room and a Japanese salt steam bath room.

The scheme will also feature 45 three-bedroom executive villas and five four bedroom villas _ bringing the total number of holiday homes at the park, which also boasts a 100-room hotel, to 700.

The spokeswoman said: "We run at a 91pc occupancy rate throughout the year but obviously in the wake of September 11 people are looking closer to home and Center Parcs is a big option."

The scheme should be considered by Forest Heath District Council planners in March and work will start soon afterwards. The expansion should be completed by December.

Lindsay Harper, a parish councillor at Elveden, welcomed the development plans.