A HUGE site that has recently been cleared to make way for a £19m business park is in the process of being sold to a private developer.
The Parry Lane site is one of three enterprise zones proposed for Bradford and over the past year work to remediate the long-empty site has been underway.
The development will soon enter the next stage following an announcement that the 2.75 acre site is to be sold.
However, there are limited details of the sale, with the identity of the buyer and the value of the sale being kept under wraps for now.
The Bradford Council-owned site has planning permission for 25,000 square metres of business and industrial land – including up to 10 large business units.
The Parry Lane site has been empty since 2008 when Yorkshire Energy vacated the land., and although the site was well placed in the city – just off Sticker Lane – it didn’t attract any interest from investors.
Several years ago it was announced the Parry Lane site would be one of several enterprise zones created in West Yorkshire.
The proposals by West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) would see the authority transform unused areas of land that had failed to attract developers due to the high cost of preparing the site.
The combined authority would pay to remediate the land – clearing the site of any contamination, preparing roads and infrastructure – and creating a blank slate for developers.
When first proposed, WYCA said the finished enterprise zone could bring 500 jobs to the area.
For Parry Lane, the combined authority agreed to pay £8m to remediate the site, with the remaining development to be funded by the private sector. Businesses would be offered incentives to move to the zones. At the time the work started, the land belonged to Bradford Council.
At a recent meeting of Bradford Council’s Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee, members discussed plans to remediate a site in Keighley that would then be sold.
Officers said the work would be similar to what had happened at Parry Lane, adding the Parry Lane site had been sold to a developer.
When asked for more details on this sale by the Telegraph & Argus, a Bradford Council spokesperson confirmed the site is under offer to a private developer, subject to completion of the final contract which is currently being negotiated.
Parry Lane is the second enterprise zone development in Bradford. Another enterprise zone at Gain Lane, Thornbury, is nearing completion.
The site, now known as Thornbury Industrial Park, is already home to cleaning products giant Astonish, Optimum Medical and Marsylka Manufacturing.
A third enterprise zone is planned for Staithgate Lane.
