Development at Tigers’ rugby league club ground ‘could bring over 2,000 jobs’

The rugby league club says the redevelopment of its existing stadium site in Wheldon Road into a food store is set to bring up to £150m of capital investment in construction and wider investment for the area. It plans to sell the ground in a deal which would secure the cash needed to build its new 13,300-capacity stadium at Glasshoughton which has been given the go-ahead by planners.

It is hoped Castleford Tigers’ new stadium, close to the Xscape leisure complex, could be finished in time for the start of the 2013 season.

The new jobs include 300 construction jobs at the Wheldon Road supermarket site, which in addition is forecast to create up to 350 permanent jobs.

A planned £12m stadium for the Tigers on the Glasshoughton site is projected to create a further 300 jobs to build the venue.

Castleford Tigers’ new home is also expected to create an additional £40m from surrounding commercial developments. Planning permission secured for a business park and hotel is expected to create 200 construction jobs and up to a further 400 jobs.

In addition it is proposed more than 600 new homes will be built upon completion of a new junction 31 link road, creating around 200 construction jobs.

Castleford Tigers chief executive Richard Wright said: “The huge investment planned for the region is going to create significant employment opportunities for local people in Castleford and across the five towns.

“However the sizeable capital investment and subsequent job creation is dependent upon securing planning permission in the first instance for a retail scheme at Wheldon Road.”

Yvette Cooper, Labour MP for Pontefract and Castleford added: “We badly need new jobs in Castleford as well as a new stadium for the Tigers which would really boost the town. That’s why the supermarket development could support the stadium and help regeneration too.

“Done in the right way, this could bring strong benefits for rugby, for the community and for the economy too.”

Developers are holding talks with a number of supermarkets and a planning application is expected to be submitted by August.