Aycliffe Today Business AT Business Issue 30 | Page 5

The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 5
/NEWS
/ADVICE
Next phase of Forrest
Park scheme begins
The next phase of a development which
is set to bring more than 3,000 jobs and an
economic boost of nearly half a billion pounds
has kicked off.
Durham County Council has started
the next phase of work to expand Aycliffe
Business Park – already the largest site of
its kind in the region – onto the 52-hectare
Forrest Park site in Newton Aycliffe.
The site, for which the Local Enterprise
Partnership has provided £13m funding, is
hoped be the subject of a £140m private
sector development including a potential rail
freight interchange.
It is estimated the site could see the
creation of 3,200 jobs and deliver a Gross
Value Added (GVA) boost of £495m over the
next 20 years.
Preparatory groundworks began last year.
The enabling works are now set to continue
with the creation of a new traffic light
controlled junction on the A167 – for better
access to both the new site and the business
park.
Work on the junction and resurfacing of
an adjoining stretch of the A167 begins on
Thursday night.
The southbound dual carriageway of the
road will be resurfaced between its junctions
with the B6444 St Andrew’s Way and the
A1(M) junction 59 interchange, with that
section of road closed to allow the work to
take place from 8pm to 6am both Thursday
and Friday nights.
Diversions will be in operation via the
B6444, the A6072 and the A68, with signs in
place to inform drivers.
Leader of the council Cllr Simon Henig said:
“The development of the Forrest Park site has
the potential to bring thousands more jobs to
County Durham and could be worth almost
half a billion pounds for our economy.
“It’s therefore really exciting for us to be
moving onto the next phase of the enabling
works with the building of the new junction
which will make access to both the site and
the business park easier.
“We appreciate there will be some
disruption for motorists while this work is
carried out but we will do all we can to keep
this to a minimum and we’d like to thank
everyone for their patience and understanding
in advance.”
The preparatory works also involve the
building of a new internal link road and a
power substation.
Lee Childs leaves South West Durham Training
Lee Childs has left his role as chief
executive of Newton Aycliffe-based South
West Durham Training (SWDT) to take up a
new challenge.
Childs, who completed his engineering
apprenticeship with SWDT nearly 18 years
ago, returned to the Aycliffe site as its boss in
October 2015.
He has successfully introduced new
bespoke training packages and increased
learner numbers in his two years as SWDT
boss.
But he has decided to take up a new
challenge with the Sora Group training
consultancy, which is based at Gestamp
Tallent’s Training Academy on Aycliffe
Business Park.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my two years
as chief executive at South West Durham
Training and I think we’ve made some huge
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said Childs.
“It’s been an interesting period, particularly
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Find out who has succeeded Lee Childs
on page 17.
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