A Keighley site that has been empty for decades will become the latest industrial development in the area.
The Beechcliffe site, just west of the A629 near the Hard Ings roundabout, is due to be transformed as part of the Keighley Towns Fund.
Around £7m is due to be spent on clearing the site and creating new access roads in preparation for the site being sold to a developer.
The plans were discussed at a meeting of Bradford Council’s Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee meeting earlier this month, where members were told the site could be ready by 2026.
Members were told the Council owned land was once home to a mill that was demolished decades ago to make way for the main roads into and out of Keighley.
It has been allocated as employment land for around 30 years.
Among the many parts of the Government’s £33m Town Fund allocation to Keighley was £14m to bring forward empty sites that could be redeveloped to boost the town’s economy.
Work is already underway on an industrial site on Dalton Lane that has been awarded £6m through the Towns Fund.
And the £7m for the Beechcliffe site will allow the Council to develop a 150,000 square foot industrial park site that could then be sold to a developer.
It would likely have around 300 jobs on site.
Officers told members it would help retain businesses that may already be in the town, but are looking to expand to bigger premises.
Currently a lack of such large units would mean long established Keighley companies may have to leave the town to expand.
If existing companies move to the bigger units on this site, smaller, start up companies will be able to move into the smaller, vacated units, creating a “churn” that will boost local industry – officers argued.
Members were told the deadline for spending the Towns Fund cash was March 2026, and so this was the current deadline for the work.
Councillor Riaz Ahmed (Lib Dem, Bradford Moor) said: “Are we confident we won’t overshoot the cost?”
And officer told him a similar project in Bradford, to remediate land at Parry Lane in preparation for a major employment site, had come in under budget.
Councillor Chris Herd (Cons, Worth Valley) said: “This is a big deal. I think it is a brilliant plan, it should create a lot of jobs, and as a Council we should play our part.”
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