Jobs boom promised in Cornwall as £4m in Euro cash is pledged
WORK on a major industrial estate on the outskirts of Redruth could begin as early as August of this year thanks to a grant of almost £4 million.
The money from the European Regional Development Fund will help cover the £8m needed to build the roads, infrastructure and site servicing at Cornwall Business Park at Scorrier.
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The investment will be match-funded by developer Hallenbeagle Estates Ltd.
The scheme will provide about 33 acres of employment land, split into 23 serviced, industrial plots, with room for 31,000sq metres of high-quality, sustainable business space.
Completed 2011
The work should be completed by May 2011.
Russell Dodge, director of Hallenbeagle Estates Ltd, said: "We are delighted to have received the Convergence Programme investment that will enable the delivery of the Hallenbeagle site.
"There is an acute shortage of serviced employment land within the county and the development will provide the opportunity for significant investment in employment space and job creation in West Cornwall."
Hallenbeagle Estates Ltd is currently working on a proposal to site a commercial waste transfer station on part of Cornwall Business Park.
He added: "This grant will go towards the business park, of which one half, we hope, will become a bio-park.
"This grant confirms that we are able to deliver what we are proposing."
Carleen Kelemen, director of the Convergence Partnership Office for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: "This ERDF Convergence investment is all about supporting the creation of workspace in Cornwall for new and growing businesses."
Ian Whale, infrastructure manager at the South West Regional Development Agency, which handles applications for ERDF Convergence investment for workspace gap funding, said: "This site has long been earmarked for significant employment use and the investment from ERDF Convergence will unlock its potential.
"This is the latest in a string of gap-funding investments we have handled that are designed to create high-quality workspace so businesses can grow and prosper."
Welcomed
Neil Lindsey, European team director at CPR Regeneration, said: "This project is welcomed as it complements the programme of work which we are promoting in Camborne, Pool and Redruth with Convergence support.
"Of particular interest is the potential for Hallenbeagle (Cornwall Business Park) to provide new opportunities for waste management, waste-to-energy and recycling industries, all of which can create new employment."
Anyone who wants to apply for ERDF Convergence investment for workspace gap funding should contact Ian Whale on 01872 243777 or John Burton on 01872 243773.
12 Comments
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by Pawl, Kernow
Friday, March 05 2010, 3:57PM
“Outside Cornwall Council offices in Truro trhe St Piran's Flag flies alongside the EU flag and quite rightly so ! Cornwall has always been an outward European country so unlike the country next door !”
by Batfink, Helston
Friday, March 05 2010, 2:09PM
“Redruth is a dump hole anyway. Best place for it I say.”
by Thelonius, Penryn
Friday, March 05 2010, 1:39PM
“I think John in Redruth makes a very valid point. Also, with fuel duty much higher in the U.K. than anywhere else in Europe, this is another cost that has to be factored into the cost of goods produced here, which make the prospects even more doubtful.”
by paul, Truro
Friday, March 05 2010, 1:08PM
“The Cornish are not in England, the Cornish are not in Europe! But they always have there hand out and take any money which comes there way. Go it alone, what a laugh! who would pay for the up keep of castles, country houses and the other services.”
by Bill, Newquay
Friday, March 05 2010, 11:45AM
“Why Redruth?
There are much more deserving cases for industrial development in places like Penzance or Newquay where traditional tourist incomes have diminished over the years. These two towns need quality jobs not temporary or seasonal ones. I agree also that there are plenty of empty industrial properties in Redruth area, Bodmin also.”
by John, Redruth
Friday, March 05 2010, 10:02AM
“Does anyone realise that building an Industrial Estate doesn't equate to jobs until the units have thriving businesses in them.
Check with the property agents there is already massive amounts of industrial space already avialable in the county and no rush by companies to take them.
The county needs to support the exisiting growing businesses , whatever sector they are in to create jobs. What do they need to grow?
What research is there to highlight who the companies are that need this space?
We have recently had a large company in Redruth move its manufacturing back up country and leave another massive factory space empty.
Anyone remeber Jet Stream cars and all that we were promised then?”
by Onan Hag All, Kernow
Friday, March 05 2010, 9:04AM
“This could be a bad thing. If the jobs provided by this new industrial estate are not earmarked for true Cornish people, then they will only bring in outsiders who will buy up Cornish houses and further add to the genocide of the Cornish race.
Be warned!!”
by Scrudger, Bodmin
Thursday, March 04 2010, 8:35PM
“It is again Europe that is investing in Cornwall and so the Cornish taxpayer should indeed raise a cheer for Brussels and with it perhaps raise the European flag outside County Hall. As for UKIP you will always have Trago Mills!”
by Albert, Truro
Thursday, March 04 2010, 7:10PM
“How gracious of the EU to give us back what was our own money in the first place.
Plus, without all their arcane and incomprehensible rules and procedures for grant applications, all these bureaucrats in their quangos could be swiftly dispatched to the Job Centre. That ought to bring the deficit down nicely!”
by disgruntled cornishman, camborne
Thursday, March 04 2010, 6:02PM
“great yet more money to be wasted on cpr,the joke of a traffic light system at pool that has made congestion worse now add this building site obviously another 2yr project of absolute no gain to the area oh hang on its eu money JOBS FOR EUROPEANS NOT LOCALS”