A £7.5million link road to the M1 motorway – which will help ‘unlock’ development land with the potential to create over 1,000 new jobs – is to receive a third of its funding from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership.
The £7.5m Seymour Link Road will link junction 29a of the M1 motorway to the Markham Vale Enterprise Zone site (pictured below) in north Derbyshire. The brownfield site, located on the former Seymour Colliery, is being redeveloped for industry – particularly the manufacturing, technology, environmental and logistics sectors – with the aim of eventually creating up to 4,100 new jobs across the whole site (732 have been created to date).
D2N2 has now agreed to give £2.52m towards the road, with the remainder of the £7.5million cost to be provided by the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (£3.78m) and Derbyshire County Council (£1.26m).
Markham Vale is invested in and covered by both the D2N2 and Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEPs). There are 39 LEPs in England; private sector-led alliances between business, local authorities, skills and training providers, and community organisations which promote economic growth and jobs creation in their areas.
Work on the Seymour Link Road is due to begin in October (2015). It will open up an essential highway link to the M1 for 33 hectares’ worth of employment land plots, on the Markham Vale North site.
It is anticipated that the scheme will lever an additional £82m of private sector investment by 2022 through the delivery of 148,000 square metres of commercial space on the Markham Vale North Site by Henry Boot Developments Ltd; indirectly creating approximately 1,235 new jobs, on the Markham Vale North site.
The Seymour Link Road is due to be completed by August next year (2016).
David Ralph, Chief Executive of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “The Markham Vale site and the Seymour Link Road specifically are identified as a key priority in our Strategic Economic Plan.
“Markham Vale sits at the northern gateway to the D2N2 LEP area. Linking it to the national road network, via the M1, gives the whole Enterprise Zone site the potential to eventually create up to 4,100 new jobs; which is why we and our partners, the Sheffield City Region LEP and Derbyshire County Council, are making this significant investment.”
Councillor Dean Collins – Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Infrastructure – said: “We’re delighted to be moving forward with the construction of the Seymour Link Road, which could eventually lead to 4,100 new jobs on the site.
“We’re committed to building a strong economy that creates jobs for local people and helps businesses grow. This latest development for Markham Vale is a great step in the right direction for the site.
“The Seymour Link Road is due to be completed by August next year which will follow on from the expected completion of the new distribution centre for the Great Bear Distribution company, Markham’s biggest deal to date.”
Funding for the Seymour Link Road from the D2N2 LEP, just agreed at the latest meeting of its Infrastructure and Investment Board, comes from its Local Growth Fund allocation. For more on D2N2’s economic growth strategy see its Strategic Economic Plan by clicking HERE.
For further information about this media release contact D2N2 Communications Officer Sean Kirby on 0115 9578749 or email: sean.kirby@d2n2lep.org
