Disappointment and delight over health firm move
HULL’S SMITH & NEPHEW LOSS IS GOOD NEWS FOR EAST RIDING
SMITH & Nephew’s proposed move down the A63 will be greeted with delight by council leaders in the East Riding and disappointment by their counterparts in the city.
It will also reinforce the view held by some that new business parks at both Melton and near the Humber Bridge continue to suck long-established businesses out of Hull.
Among the first to swap Hull for new surroundings at Melton West were Heron Foods and Allam Marine.
More recently Browns Books and Humberside Police have moved there, the latter relocating its main call centre from Hessle Road in the city.
The attractions of such sites are obvious - plenty of space for purposebuilt facilities and relatively easy transport links which avoid the many pitfalls of being surrounded by an urban infrastructure dating from the Victorian era.
As well as losing an international brand and hundreds of skilled jobs, Hull City Council also faces the prospect of seeing yet more business rate income being diverted to the East Riding.
A pooled business rate arrangement in any eventual combined authority between the two councils as part of a devolution deal might soften that particular blow.
The proposed move also puts a huge question mark over the Hessle Road site currently occupied by the company. As well as the factory itself, Smith & Nephew also own adjacent land on the other side of English Street stretching right to Albert Dock.
With Arco’s recent move to the Fruit Market, that whole area is now crying out for some serious masterplanning to work out its long-term future beyond the end of the Castle Street improvement scheme and Smith & Nephew’s departure.
As for the many nearby residents who recently opposed the construction of a new Amazon distribution centre at Melton West, they will be waiting to see more details of where the new Smith & Nephew complex will be going.
It will also put more pressure on both the East Riding and Network Rail to sped up plans to reopen a rail station at Melton which was closed in 1989.