Planning councillors give £200 million Yorkshire Energy Park the green light

Planning councillors have approved plans for the £200 million Yorkshire Energy Park development to go ahead.

The new development located on the former Hedon Aerodrome site on the outskirts of Hull, within the village of Preston South and to the west of Hedon, will create up to 4,480 jobs and attract significant inward investment from national and international companies.

An energy centre, data centre and disaster recovery suite, space to grow local businesses, and education, training and research facilities, will sit alongside associated short-stay accommodation, an outdoor building materials and testing facility, and brand new sports facilities for the community under the plans.

The energy park site will also include 45 hectares of green space, protected for 150 years, as an enhanced area for wintering birds, as well as an off-site wildlife habitat of a further 94 hectares.

Yorkshire Energy Park Project Director Claire Harrison said: “We have wholeheartedly believed in the Yorkshire Energy Park development for four years. We have listened, responded and worked incredibly hard to develop a scheme which benefits the community and everyone involved.

“We are glad the Committee recognised this today and approved the plans. We look forward to working with both local authorities, our partners, end users and, importantly, local residents in creating this flagship scheme for the Humber in the heart of the UK’s Energy Estuary.”

The location for the Yorkshire Energy Park is the only available site on the north bank of the Humber which has a natural gas supply of sufficient size and capacity already on the site, along with a National Grid connection in close proximity.

As a result, the park can provide clean, reliable energy at around 20% less than the market cost for businesses located on the park, and energy can also be sold back to the grid.

Because of this unique proposition, a number of multi-national and national brand names have announced their commitment to the scheme if planning permission is granted, including E.ON, Asanti Data Centres, Dell, and Legal & General.

Hull College Group, one of the largest further and higher education colleges in the country, and Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), an academic department of the University of Warwick and one of the world’s leading education and research groups, have also backed the plans.