Airport Plans Boost
By Sandy Mckenzie
The way has been cleared for tens of millions of pounds to be invested and hundreds of jobs to be created at Durham Tees Valley Airport.
The Secretary of State for Local Government and Communities, Ruth Kelly, has decided not to call in the planning application to create a business park on the airport.
It enables Darlington Council to confirm planning consent for the development of the business park which also includes a hotel and a pub and restaurant.
The airport also has plans approved for major improvements to its infrastructure.
Hugh Lang, the airport’s managing director, today described the news as “a major boost to plans to maximise the potential of the site and to reinforce the airport’s role as a key element in attracting jobs and investment to the region.’
Darlington and Stockton Councils have already backed the airport’s plans for major improvements and expansion of the terminal, together with additional aircraft stands, new taxiway and apron facilities along with the creation of a new cargo and maintenance village.
The business park includes 18,600 sq m of high quality office space, a 100-bed lodge-style hotel, and a pub and restaurant.
The airport infrastructure improvements and the business park development will see around pounds 56m being spent.
Work on the airport facilities improvements are expected to start in the summer. It is expected a stream of development will take place on the business park over the next two years.
Mr Lang said: “This a very important decision, not just for Durham Tees Valley Airport but the whole area. It enables us to develop our plans for meeting the needs of the ever-growing number of passengers hand-in-hand with the business park project.
“Our plans for the terminal and related developments are aimed at equipping us to handle up to 3m passengers a year, but the North Side business park is a key element in ensuring we make full use of the whole of our site – including, in the longer term, the extensive area of land to the south side of the runway.”
Mr Lang said with both planning applications now approved work could take place with partners on planning a programme for moving forward with the developments. They had the potential to create many hundreds of jobs.
Peter Nears, strategic planning director with the Peel Group, the airport’s majority shareholders, said: “We have been greatly encouraged by the widespread recognition of the importance of the airport to the economy of the Tees Valley and surrounding area – and the need to ensure it is able to develop and grow both in terms of consolidating its position as a leading regional airport and developing other business opportunities.”
Darlington Council’s leader, Councillor John Williams said: “Work can now start to build on the popularity of Durham Tees Valley airport and further the economic prospects of the Tees Valley.”
Recently the Highways Agency confirmed work will start in the spring on the pounds 11.3m Long Newton interchange project. It will include a new bridge over the A66, slip roads to allow traffic to join the A66 safely and conveniently and new links to both Mill Lane, which provides the main access to the Airport, and the village of Elton.
(c) 2007 Evening Gazette – Middlesbrough. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.