A BOOTLE firm is behind a project to create a £100m trams system in Preston.

Tram Power, in Stanley Road, is in talks with rail infrastructure group Network Rail and Preston City Council to take control of a stretch of track through the city centre, extending out to junction 31A of the M6 motorway and a nearby business park development.

The motorway junction features a newly-built park and ride facility with 600 car spaces which Tram Power believes will enhance its business case.

Former Liverpool JMU Professor Lewis Lesley is behind the company which has built demonstration trams for pitches to US, Canadian, European and UK tram networks, including the proposed Edinburgh system.

It has also undergone testing at Birkenhead’s Pacific Road tram facilities.

But he said Tram Power, which employs seven full-time staff on the Preston project, could be partly operational within months and in place in time for the 2012 Preston Guild.

“We are optimistic we will have the first part operating this year.

“We aim to run a tram from the business park near the M6 to Preston rail station.”

Tram Power’s business development manager, Lincoln Shields, added: “We have been negotiating since early December with Network Rail for a lease on the rail lines in Preston and they seem fairly amenable. We’re going through the legal process at the moment and hope to complete that before Easter.”

The outlying tracks belong to the city council and are currently used as footpaths and cycleways, but Mr Shields added: “We can use that as a tramway, as well as accommodating cycle and pedestrian routes on the same strip of land.”

The company hopes to raise private sector finance and Mr Shields said: “We have a specialist financial broker working to raise interest in the project.

“He tells us that, providing we have a good business model, there is still interest in the private finance market. We also have strong interest from a local entrepreneur.”

Up to seven of Tram Power’s City Class trams would be needed to operate the system.

The first stage of the route would begin in Preston city centre and take in Preston North End’s Deepdale football ground and a nearby retail complex, as well as Preston’s University of Central Lancashire.