Developer gets go-ahead for £140m North East business park

Stourbridge-based joint venture developer Richardson Barberry’s plans to create a £140m business park with the potential to create over 3,100 jobs have been approved.

The Forrest Park in Newton Aycliffe is 55-hectare site located at the southeast of the town for commercial and manufacturing use.

Earlier this year the site was featured in a property portfolio launched by the Department for International Trade to showcase the opportunities on offer in the UK to foreign investors.

It will see the creation of 1.75m sq ft of business, industrial, warehouse and trade units, a 60-bed hotel, public house and roadside restaurant and retail units next to the A1.

The development will extend Aycliffe Business Park, at Newton Aycliffe, to become the largest in the North East and has the potential to create over 3,100 jobs and boost County Durham’s economy by almost half a billion pounds over the next 20 years.

The scheme is a joint venture between Durham County Council and the Forrest family, with Richardson Barberry as the commercial property developer.

“The approval of the Forrest Park planning application is major news for the North East,” said Jonathan Robinson, director of Barberry Developments, based near Stourbridge.

“Working alongside Durham County Council, the Forrest family and the Local Enterprise Partnership, our vision is to create a business park that provides a wide range of high-quality accommodation, which will attract local, regional, national and international occupiers, stimulating economic growth and new jobs for the region.

Richardson Barberry will provide building options for smaller occupiers on the trade park and bigger building options of between 20,000 sq ft to 500,000 sq ft.