Regional Development Agency Yorkshire Forward and Leeds, York and Sheffield Universities have joined the race to develop a £1bn science park on a former airfield in Yorkshire.
Yorkshire Forward and the universities – known as the White Rose Consortium – want the worlds largest neutron-scattering research facility to be built on a 544-acre (220ha) site at the former Burn airfield near Selby, north Yorkshire.
Four rival locations are bidding for the project, known as the European Spallation Source (ESS). Two of the sites are located in Germany, one is in Denmark and the other is located at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.
The preferred site will be chosen at a conference in Bonn, Germany, on Friday.
Yorkshire Forward is in detailed discussions for the purchase of the site with landowner Innogy.
If the consortium’s bid is chosen, work would be expected to start on site in 2004 with completion scheduled for 2011.
Yorkshire Forward chairman Graham Hall said: “The fact that Yorkshire is able to provide a suitable site proves we are the most attractive region for inward investment opportunities and business growth in the country.”
White Rose Consortium chief executive Martin Doxey said: “The site would be a powerful magnet for scientists from across the world.
“There is also an enormous potential boost to the local economy with a knock-on effect for local businesses such as shops, restaurants and hoteliers.”
EGi News 15/05/02
