Work on multi-million pound employment site to begin with new Greggs car park

The £19m Parry Lane Enterprise Zone will see a long empty site in the Bowling Back Lane area transformed into a major employment site that could bring up to 500 jobs to the area.

The site, the former home of Yorkshire Energy, had been seen as “difficult to develop,” which had put off developers.

In 2020 West Yorkshire Combined Authority announced it would be spending £6.9 million to make the site more attractive for developers by remediating the land, £5m of which will come from the Government’s getting building fund. Private investment would make up the rest of the £19m development.

Several large employment units are planned for the site, but the first sign of the development beginning will come from an unlikely source.

As part of the development, a new car park for customers of businesses on neighbouring Sticker Lane, including Greggs, would be built on the Enterprise Zone site.

The Combined Authority planned the car park due to “concerns regarding parking issues on Sticker Lane.”

The Greggs on Sticker Lane

One of the entrances to the development site will require an existing small parking area next to Greggs altered. A planning application by the Combined Authority called for a new 15 space car park behind Greggs. It said it would “enhance site’s connectivity and permeability and facilitate the development of the wider Parry Lane site.”

£19m scheme to transform eyesore site into 'enterprise zone' is approved

That application has now been approved by Bradford Council, with officers saying it was “strategically acceptable.”

Since the Enterprise Zone plans were approved, work has been underway to remediate the huge site. That work is expected to be completed by Summer, when the redevelopment of the site will begin in earnest.

A Combined Authority spokesperson said: “The recent planning consent is for a small area to the rear of the existing shops and was originally shown in the approved outline application of 2020.  The parking will be available to customers of all shops and services on Sticker Lane.

“The Combined Authority and Bradford Council Highways have been working in partnership on the Enterprise Zone scheme and the car park addresses the Council’s concerns regarding the ongoing parking issues in the Sticker Lane and Parry Lane area that were causing safety issues for motorists and pedestrians.

“This initial stage of the project also includes traffic signals and new pedestrian crossings to improve walking routes to the shops.

“Remediation works on the Parry Lane Enterprise Zone are due to complete in early summer 2022.  After that, the Council will seek to bring forward the final redevelopment of the site.”