Former aerodrome to be transformed into £200m energy park

A proposed £200m energy park in East Yorkshire has been given the backing on major employers including Vodafone and IBM as planning applications are submitted for the site.

The Association of British Insurers, Hull College, L&G Investment Management, SSE Utilities,and ZTE are also throwing their weight behind the plans, which could create around 1,000 jobs.

An outline planning application was submitted today and community information events have been organised to share the final proposals with the public.

Consultations have already been held across the region from June last year, and now planning applications have been submitted. If approved, work on the Yorkshire Energy Park could begin in early 2018.

The development on the former aerodrome within the boundary of South Preston village close to the Saltend BP plant would generate millions of pounds of investment in the area said Yorkshire developer Sewell and Eco Parks Developments Ltd, who are partnered with London-based Chilterns, a renewable energy and infrastructure project facilitator.

The application for the site which is owned by Hull City Council has been developed with support from a multi-disciplinary team led by GVA.

Chris Turner, chairman of the Yorkshire Energy Park project, said: “With the level of corporate backing already committed to this project, the Yorkshire Energy Park has the potential to provide a major economic, education and training boost to this region and create a project template for the UK’s low carbon industrial future, as set out in the Government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper.”

Lord Haskins, chairman of the Humber Local Economic Partnership (LEP), said: “This is a great day for the Humber. The Yorkshire Energy Park would further strengthen our position as the UK’s Energy Estuary, building on the success of the recent Siemens investment.

“The number of new jobs proposed is transformational and the level of private sector investment and community engagement already undertaken by the joint venture team, and their end users, is further tangible evidence that the Humber is an attractive proposition for investors.”

Matt Jukes, chief executive, Hull City Council, added: “We have been in discussions with the developers for some time to ensure that the development plans are robust and deliverable.

“The site is of key strategic importance and we are keen to maximise the positive impact that this scheme can have on wider economic development of the sub region.”

Rob Cawkwell, Project Director from Sewell Investments, said: “This underutilised site is regionally unique in that it has the benefit of size and direct access to natural gas and electricity infrastructure.

“We have spent almost 1,000 hours listening to and briefing stakeholders, and taken on board the comments and points raised, which are clearly reflected in the outline planning submission.

“Both strategically and technically, this scheme ticks all of the boxes and meets all of the requirements for the Government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper. We look forward to showing the final proposals to members of the public and other stakeholders.”