Plans submitted for major rail-connected hub which will create 2,000 jobs
An outline planning application has been submitted to transform a 276-acre North Yorkshire site into a rail-connected hub that will deliver 2m sq ft of employment space and up to 2,000 jobs.
Land regeneration and property investment specialists, Harworth Group, have submiited the application Selby District Council for development of its Gascoigne Wood site in Sherburn-in-Elmet.
The 276-acre site, formerly the Gascoigne Wood Colliery at the heart of the Selby coalfield complex in North Yorkshire, includes the existing 124-acre Sherburn Rail Freight Terminal, which is home to occupiers including Siniat and British Gypsum, alongside agricultural land to the North.
The whole site benefits from an existing rail connection that can accept trains of up to 450m in length and is ready to link to industrial and distribution centres throughout the UK.
Harworth’s application uses the existing rail connection as its central asset and proposes up to 2m sq. ft of Class B2 (General Industry) and B8 (Storage and Distribution) space, ready for a range of rail-connected uses that could deliver up to 2,000 new jobs.
Tim Love, director of strategic land at Harworth, said: “The site represents a great opportunity for Selby to leverage its unique locational advantages to create thousands of new rail-connected jobs. We have spent a number of months working closely with Selby District Council, North Yorkshire County Council, technical advisors and key commercial agents to formulate a realistic plan to fully account for the constraints and opportunities the site offers, and we look forward to the application being considered as soon as possible.”
Leader of Selby District Council, Councillor Mark Crane, added: “Gascoigne has the potential to be a really significant new investment site for the whole of Yorkshire – as it’s a major site with direct rail connections and easy road access too. This is one of five large developments planned for our area which we’ve been supporting because of their potential to deliver significant new job opportunities and business investment. We benefit from being right at the heart of Yorkshire, and we’re the fastest-growing part of North Yorkshire – it’s really important that the council can build on this to make the most of these new opportunities for people living and working in the area.
“Obviously this application will have to go through a full planning process. We’ve been working proactively with the developers to shape their investment proposals to bring the biggest benefits to our communities, but this now needs to go through a planning process.”
Gascoigne Wood has been identified by Selby District Council as one of five key sites within its Economic Growth Framework to deliver higher-value employment uses across the district and as a result. Harworth has signed a Planning Performance Agreement with the Council to ensure its swift consideration. I
n preparation for this, Harworth undertook significant due diligence prior to the submission of the application, including detailed planning work on issues including highways and access, topography and drainage, ecology and coal legacy.
Planning and design consultancy Barton Willmore submitted the application on Harworth Group’s behalf.
Lucie Jowett, senior planner at Barton Willmore, added: “There are a limited number of rail connected sites across the region, few of which have the capacity or capability of replicating the offer available at Gascoigne Wood. The site, with its unique attributes, has the potential to provide the Selby District with a site of regional importance. We have worked on developing proposals which utilise these attributes to create a development which positively responds to and contributes to the District’s regeneration and economic objectives.
“The development will not only bring about the opportunity to create a significant number of new jobs and economic output in the District, but also across an extensive supply chain.”
