Joy for job seekers as new Gateway Peterborough distribution and manufacturing park creates work for 8,000

UP to 8,000 new jobs will be created when a distribution and manufacturing park is built in Peterborough.

Fenland job seekers were given the much welcome boost when developers Roxhill announced they would be building the 240-acre Gateway Peterborough site off junction one of the city’s Fletton Parkway adjacent to the A1(M).

Its location means it will be easily accessible not only to companies using the site but also potential workers, who will be able to travel easily from places such as March, Wisbech and Ely to take up employment once the park is built.

“Peterborough is very well located for a distribution park as it has transport links that are second-to-none,” Roxhill development director Charles Blake said.

“Work is now starting on the infrastructure of the site and we hope to bring news of potential occupiers in the near future.”

Companies will be able to take buildings of 95,000 sq ft to 1.3 million sq ft, with 8,000 jobs being created once the whole of the site, which is also known as the Great Haddon Employment Zone, is occupied.

Some of the space will be taken by the Yearsley Group, which plans to build a new cold store there with 300 jobs by the time it is expected to be operational at the end of 2013.

“The 300 jobs created will range from low to high skills, and include positions such as business managers and refrigeration engineers,” a spokesman for the company said.

At the moment 2,625 people are unemployed in North East Cambridgeshire and 1,305 in South East Cambridgeshire.