New retail park’s ‘2,000 jobs boost’

SITE PREPARATION work will start later this year on a £160m new retail park off the M62 near Castleford, which developers claim will create as many as 2,000 jobs.

Developers Lateral Property Group have given the scheme, which was known as Five Towns Park, a new name, Axiom, and revealed that it will open in 2021.

The “next generation” scheme is set to include a retail park, country park and a new 10,000

capacity community Castleford Tigers stadium on land next to junction 32 of the M62 in Glass Houghton,

Lateral, as well as fellow developer Highgrove Group plc, revealed the re-brand with a new project website and marketing video, featuring fresh images of the scheme and confirming that M&S, Primark, Next and Boots had already signed up.

Philip Lunn, co-founder of Lateral, said they felt Axiom “was a better reflection of the scheme’s ambitions” and it would work well with adjacent indoor snow centre Xscape “to create an instantly

recognisable brand which would appeal to families across the region”.

The 106-acre site will boast 75 retail, restaurant and leisure units, and 3,000 car parking spaces.

Developers say the two-and-ahalf-years it will take to build will support 1,100 construction jobs and more than 2,000 jobs when opened.

Jobs ranging from managerial through to shop assistants will be “delivered to local people”, through “specialist training academies and programmes”.

It is the first time since last May

that Lateral has spoken about the scheme, which received planning permission from Wakefield Council in February 2015.

They say in the past year it has taken a “major step” forward, and they have acquired the site, as well as loan funding from Leeds City Region’s Revolving Investment

Fund (RIF). The size of the loan has not been disclosed.

All the infrastructure work needed for the scheme, including the diversion of a major overhead powerline which used to cross the site, has now been completed.

Chairman of the Leeds City Region RIF and chief executive of Kirklees Council, Jacqui Gedman, said the project would make a “positive difference” to the Five Towns area – Pontefract, Castleford, Normanton, Featherstone and Knottingley.

Chairman of Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, Roger Marsh, added: “The five towns

area that surrounds Axiom is rich in heritage, strong in local pride and has a bright future.

“This project would further extend a nationally significant facility and add to the vibrancy of the five town area.”

However environmentalists have warned that the retail park, which is being promoted as being within 40 minutes driving distance of York, Hull and Harrogate, could compromise efforts to improve air quality.

Simon Bowens, Friends of the Earth (FoE) Yorkshire campaigner said: “The proposed shopping centre is in the middle of

an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA).

“By encouraging people to come by car, they risk undoing the progress made in getting to grips with illegally high levels of air pollution in recent years.

“If major retail centres are to go ahead they should be able to be reached by public transport and developers should do everything to encourage sustainable and accessible travel choice.”

The AQMA was set up after legal limits on air quality were breached in 2011. Since then it has been reduced back to below the legal limit, FoE said.

‘Axiom’ was a better reflection of the scheme’s ambitions.

Philip Lunn, co-founder of developers Lateral Property Group.