Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has today signed off £23.6m in funding that will enable the building of a major logistics and manufacturing park at Teesside International Airport.
The £200m development, which will be built on the 270-acres of land on the southside of the airport, will see the creation of 3.4 million square feet of logistic, manufacturing and commercial space built over the next 10 years through a joint venture partnership with the private sector. Once complete the development has the potential to create 4,400 jobs and provide £3m a year to reinvest back into the airport.
Today’s agreement will see £23.6m invested to provide critical infrastructure to enable the wider development, including connections to the main utilities and providing access to the southside of the airport from the A67.
Mayor Houchen’s deal to buy Teesside International Airport included 817 acres of land and presented significant opportunities for property development, inward investment and the creation of new jobs.
The southside land runs parallel to the runway and is by far the largest area for potential development.
Mayor Houchen’s 10-year rescue plan includes commitments to increase passenger numbers to 1.4million, secure a low-cost carrier by 2022, and drive the creation of thousands of new jobs.
Mayor Houchen said: “This investment is a major step forward for our airport. I’ve always said our airport isn’t just about holiday flights, for our airport to be truly successful and sustainable appropriate development around the airport site would be needed. Today’s announcement is a huge step forward in achieving this.
“Not only does this investment unlock £200m in private sector development it will also lead to the creation of thousands of good-quality well-paid jobs for local people.
“Once up and running, this new logistics and manufacturing park will see £3m from the development reinvested back into our airport to make sure it is safe for the long term. All money made from this development will be put back into the airport to help it grow and attract new flights and not a single house will be built.
“Teesside International is a major economic driver and job creator and since bringing our airport back into public ownership and saving it from closure a huge number of businesses have already approached us wanting to setup at the airport. This development will provide the high-quality facilities they need to thrive and boost our economy.
“Make no mistake, Teesside is on the up and this is another huge boost for our airport just before Christmas in what has been a brilliant year where so much progress has been made. I expect to see even more exciting progress in 2020!”
