154 jobs on the way in Bakewell as £23m business park scheme receives LEP backing
Some 100 jobs have taken step closer to be created in Bakewell after a £23m project to reinvigorate a business park site received backing from the D2N2 LEP.
The Riverside Business Park, a 225,000 sq ft site of industrial buildings, just north-west of Bakewell town centre, is to be redeveloped in three phases to improve access to the site and improve the state of the industrial buildings there.
Funding for the Riverside Business Park project has come from Litton Property Group (which bought the site in 2001 and is based there), set to invest around £20.3m, and a further £3.3m which has just been agreed through the D2N2 Infrastructure and Investment Board.
Planning permission has previously been granted for the Riverside Business Park project’s main phases.
Construction work on site is due to begin in July, with the new bridge and access road set to be built between January 2022 and 2023, and all works due to be completed by October 2026.
When completed, it is estimated that the project will have created 154 jobs and safeguarded 113 existing ones, created 131,567 sq ft of additional commercial space for the area and established a new 72-bed hotel.
Elizabeth Fagan, Chair of the D2N2 LEP, said: “True economic growth for our area must benefit all the communities in it, urban and rural. That is why we are investing over £3million in improving this site, working with partners to see its long history of contributing to the Derbyshire economy extend far into the future.”
Minister for Local Growth, Jake Berry MP said: “We are committed to boosting economic growth across the whole of the Midlands Engine and building a country that works for everyone.
“Our £3.3m investment from the Local Growth Fund to provide a bright future for a site at the heart of the region’s economic heritage is an excellent example of this in action.
“With the creation of over 150 jobs and further commercial space, the redevelopment of the Riverside Business Park will provide employment and business opportunities for local people, helping the historic town of Bakewell and the wider Derbyshire Dales community to thrive.”
