Jobs and businesses open up at major gateway of M1
One of the biggest-ever infrastructure schemes in the Sheffield City Region (SCR), which is set to underpin massive jobs growth, is already attracting businesses and opening up a major gateway to development.
The SCR investment in an ambitious £55m plan to open up and develop the Dearne Valley A61/6195 Growth Corridor is a top priority for the region’s economic body in its drive to bring investment and jobs into the region, and to improve connectivity to the wider Northern Powerhouse.
It has worked in partnership with Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, the scheme promoter, and alongside the Barnsley Property Investment Fund, which has been designed to stimulate the development of commercial sites and attract new businesses to the borough.
The first £8.9m phase of the SCR’s Local Enterprise Partnership investment has made key improvements to the Corridor’s link to Junction 36 of the M1. This phase includes a dedicated lane from the M1 slip road, preventing queues backing onto the M1 at J36, cutting local traffic jams, and improving bus journey times.
The LEP says the infrastructure work “massively” improves access to development sites, enabling wider development to take place and in turn unlocking jobs growth. Later phases will build on this work, with the SCR currently having approved up to £15m in funding.
And already the SCR backing, with another £40m put into the Barnsley Council scheme by the private sector, has seen three major investors expand in the area. They are Talurit UK, part of the Swedish Talurit Group, which has made a £3m investment in a new building; global healthcare manufacturer Esco which has taken premises four times larger than its previous building, and the Environment Agency. The units were the first to be built with help from Barnsley Council Property Investment Fund.
Meanwhile, the SCR has put forward an area at Junction 36 as a potential logistics hub for the Heathrow Airport third runway expansion. If successful, it could be one of four UK sites to pre-assemble components before transporting them to Heathrow.
Sir Nigel Knowles, chair of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “The success the Sheffield City Region has seen with international businesses moving into the region was a very persuasive case for the LEP to invest in these junction improvements. The funding we have provided not only makes it much easier for business here, it unlocks a larger picture, encouraging economic growth and enabling the housing we want.
“That’s what the LEP is about – a pragmatic approach to getting on with what needs to be done. The SCR will create a foundation for decades of future development.”
Owen Michaelson, chief executive of developers the Harworth Group, added: “The effect of developments such as this is profound and long term. It supports the sustainable growth that is needed to transform local economies, and as one of the largest property and regeneration companies in the North, that is at our heart.
“The Sheffield City Region is pursuing a strategic vision of economic growth and Harworth is delighted to have been one of the key partners in this project.”
David Shepherd, service director, Economic Regeneration at Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, said: “This is a scheme which has major significance. It’s not solely a traditional highways scheme to help ease congestion, this facilitates the wider economic regeneration and growth requirements for both Barnsley and the Sheffield City Region.
“Resolving the road infrastructure issues on the M1 J36 is critical to opening up the regeneration and growth of the whole Dearne corridor.
“Without the scheme, the economic regeneration of the area would halt – there would be insufficient capacity on the highway network.”
