AN AMBITIOUS business park in Brighouse could bring £269 million into the Calderdale economy over the next 10 years.

Plans have been put in by Calderdale Council to develop the 25.5 hectare site at land off Coal Pit Lane, Clifton.

If approved, Clifton Business Park will create a net 607 jobs for Calderdale, say supporting statements for the application, which will come before the council’s Planning Committee.

And it is estimated it will add a gross £31.2 million a year into the Calderdale economy over the next decade, in present-day terms totalling £269 million, says an environmental statement compiled by Pegasus Group in support of the application.

The site, which includes some existing woodland, is allocated for employment under the adopted Local Plan and has Enterprise Zone status – it will be the largest of nine sites which comprise the Leeds City Region’s Enterprise Zone for the M62 corridor.

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Calderdale Council’s Cabinet member for Resources, Performance and Business Change, Councillor Jane Scullion, said submission of the planning application is the next step in proposals for the new business park, which will be situated between Brighouse and the motorway.

“The development would offer a real opportunity to boost our local economy by attracting new businesses to the area and allowing existing firms to expand.

“The feedback from the recent consultation has been really helpful in preparing more detailed plans.

“It was also encouraging to hear that many businesses expressed interest in the site, showing the need for high quality employment space in our area,” she said.

Other politicians have expressed concern about the plans with opposition group leader and ward councillor Scott Benton (Con, Brighouse) previously concerned about the business park’s impact on increased amounts of traffic using the area’s roads generally and Wakefield Road in particular.

“In addition to this, there are also concerns about the loss of amenity in Clifton, especially the impact upon the local environment and sites of ecological interest, increased flood risk, and additional pollution in what is already an area which is being monitored for having very poor air quality,” added Coun Benton, who also challenged the business case for the project.

The council says public consultation on the plans has been carried out with events well attended.

These took place throughout February and included a dedicated consultation website, two public events and two stakeholder drop-in events in Brighouse.

In all 115 residents, businesses and stakeholders attended to review the proposals, speak to the development team, share their views and more than 100 responses were also received during the consultation.

Where possible and feasible changes have been made to the scheme design to address comments and suggestions provided by the local community, says the council.

Calderdale says many local businesses showed interested in potentially moving into the business park, supporting evidence that there is a need for an employment zone in the area.

The planning application, which includes initial designs for the scheme, is available to view online on the council’s planning pages at www.calderdale.gov.uk under the reference 19/00612/LAA and comments can be made there.

The supporting documents indicate a combination of business classes is proposed, including office, research and development, light industrial, general industrial and storage and distribution space.

Principal access would be via a new access point created off Wakefield Road (A644), with secondary access on Clifton Common Road (A643) and a third point accessible only to pedestrians, cyclists and cars, on Coal Pit Lane.

The application says circulation and internal roads are orientated around the main “spine” road connecting Clifton Common and Wakefield Road through the application site, with footways and cycleways designed to segregate people and vehicles to encourage “sustainable” travel and green infrastructure designed to minimise landscape and visual effects and deliver biodiversity benefits, say the Pegasus Group supporting environmental statement documents.

They also say air quality, noise, vibration, transport infrastructure and flood risk issues have been considered, concluding: “A range of both positive and negative effects have been identified for the topics considered."