The 22-acre site, is expected to contain enough industrial units for around 10 commercial recycling businesses, for either sale or rent, and is likely to have the capacity to process 200,000 tonnes of waste each year. Urban Mines has said that bespoke units are available. A new £23 million road giving access to the A1 and motorway network, as well as an education and visitor centre, is also planned.
Gill Tatum, chief executive of Halifax-based Urban Mines, said “This is a tremendous leap forward for us, after years of working on the concept, and could be the first of its kind in the UK. We're aiming for this development to have a significant regional and national profile as a centre for innovative waste management and recycling.”
The park is expected to be fully operational between 2008 and 2011. Urban Mines originally submitted an application to Wakefield metropolitan borough council to build it in Castleford, West Yorkshire.
Wakefield PFI
However, Wakefield council which itself is in the process of procuring major waste treatment facilities and is planning to build them in South Kirby, suggested the park be moved alongside this new plant.
Wakefield MBC has shortlisted two contenders for its PFI-funded facilities – Waste Recycling Group and defence contract specialist VT Group. The project could include a mechanical biological treatment plant and an anaerobic digester to process around 120,000 tonnes of material annually (see letsrecycle.com story). This contract is likely to begin in May 2008.
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