Eshton confident on Burnley Bridge

THE developers behind a new 70-acre business park insist they remain positive about its future despite a cut in regional development agency funding.

Leeds-based Eshton Group is confident that listed home shopping group Findel will occupy a major new 210,000 sq ft distribution centre at the £48m Burnley Bridge business park which has lost promised funding from the North West Development Agency (NWDA).

It was one of 100 projects to lose out in £52m of cuts unveiled by the NWDA on Monday.

Eshton was expecting to receive £7.7m from the NWDA and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to be spent on a bridge to the site next to the M65, a land clean-up and to demolish buildings.

Some £3.2m of this has been lost but Eshton is still working with the NWDA on the £4.2m component from the ERDF. The developer has revised its plans accordingly and is hoping to sell a parcel of land to the NHS to make up the shortfall.

James Chapman, managing director of Eshton, said: “We remain very positive. There has been significant interest in the park from both national and local companies, with serious enquiries ranging from large 200,000 sq ft distribution centres to smaller industrial units.

“The message is very clear. We are open for business. Overall we hope to create 1,400 new jobs at Burnley Bridge.”

The business park is made up of 650,000 sq ft of mixed-use employment space including large industrial units of up to 400,000 sq ft. It is primarily seeking to attract light industrial and distribution-based occupiers. There will also be offices, a convenience retail store, crèche and hotel.
 
The agents for the development are Dove, Haigh Phillips of Leeds and Trevor Dawson of Blackburn and Burnley.