Business park scheme for Durham Tees Valley Airport
20.02.08
A planning application has been submitted for a new £75m business park near Durham Tees Valley Airport. The scheme, which could create up to 1,250 jobs, will consist of 11 two-storey commercial units comprising 14,560sq m in total on brown field land to the North-east of the airport. However, one local councillor yesterday described the development as a ‘white elephant’ and warned that the offices were likely to sit empty, like other developments in the area.
Under the proposals, each unit could be sub-divided to produce individual office suites ranging in size from 50 to 2,000sq m and arranged around a central atrium. It is thought the offices would be ideally suited to small businesses and start-up companies linked to the airport. The agent for the development is Darlington-based Blackett Hart and Pratt (BHP), which is acting on behalf of the applicant and current owner of the site, development firm Sven Investments.
Steve Barker, head of planning at BHP, said the scheme would offer a different product to other local developments. He said: ‘It should be seen as complimentary to traditional offices, not a threat. One of the central benefits about this proposal is its inherent flexibility.’
Mr Barker said it was ‘too early’ to say who the tenants would be but expected them ‘to be related to the airport’. He said: ‘This is not a scheme to attract businesses who would otherwise be located in the centres of Darlington or Stockton.'
Darlington Council confirmed it had received the application and during the next 13 weeks will consult with organisations such as the Highways Agency and Government Office for the North East. A spokesperson for the council said: ‘The scheme is designed to provide offices for airport-related use.’
Hugh Lang, managing director of Durham Tees Valley, said he was aware of the proposals but needed to review the details before he could comment further. Earlier this year Durham Tees Valley Airport secured planning permission to create a separate business park consisting of offices and an airport hotel on a 200,000sq ft site to the North of the airport.
In addition, TVR is developing plans to create a new business park at Durham Tees Valley Airport and is hoping to attract significant inward investment to the area. TVR confirmed it was not involved in the Sven Investments-led scheme and would reveal details of its airport project in the next few months. The emphasis will be on travel, airport and logistics-related activity and an additional 6000 car parking spaces.
Doris Jones, councillor for the village of Middleton St George, close to the airport, said she was very sceptical about the proposals. She said: ‘I would take a very dim view of offices at the airport unless they were all used by airport related businesses, otherwise it could be a white elephant. There are already empty offices in Morton Park, in Darlington, there is no need for more, unless they are airport related. If they are not, I would be raising an objection to the plans.’
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