Ancient market town '˜will become suburb' if £200m industrial park is built

TOWN councillors have unanimously objected to a £200m industrial park on a former airfield which they fear will see the ancient market town of Hedon being swallowed up by Hull.
Coun John DennisCoun John Dennis
Coun John Dennis

East Riding councillor John Dennis told a meeting that the same would happen to the town as the village of Sutton, in Hull, if the Yorkshire Energy Park was built on a green buffer separating the two.

He said: “If they get their way, complete coalescence will take place and Hedon will be lost. There won’t be any green fields, any independence, it will go and it will be very like the village of Sutton.

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“When the city council invented Bransholme, they surrounded the village of Sutton with their residential estates and it was lost forever.”

St Augustine's church, Hedon: There are concerns the town will become a suburb of Hull if a green buffer is built onSt Augustine's church, Hedon: There are concerns the town will become a suburb of Hull if a green buffer is built on
St Augustine's church, Hedon: There are concerns the town will become a suburb of Hull if a green buffer is built on

If they weren’t careful and the plans were approved, he added, the town of Hedon “won’t be far behind.”

The proposals include a gas-fired energy centre and data centre, as well as an education campus, warehousing, research and development and on-site residential accommodation. Developers claim it could create as many as 1,000 jobs and companies including E.ON, IBM, and Vodafone have expressed support.

But bodies including Natural England and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust have objected because of its impact on an important foraging area for endangered curlews.

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Coun Brenda Goldspink questioned the “reluctance” by developers to develop on Associated British Ports’s 453 acre adjacent Hedon Haven site. Not only is it currently being marketed, but it also has a large wildlife mitigation area.

St Augustine's church, Hedon: There are concerns the town will become a suburb of Hull if a green buffer is built onSt Augustine's church, Hedon: There are concerns the town will become a suburb of Hull if a green buffer is built on
St Augustine's church, Hedon: There are concerns the town will become a suburb of Hull if a green buffer is built on

Hedon Town Council has now filed a series of objections with East Riding Council, which is expected to decide the application in March.

Their prime objection is that the site is not allocated for development in the East Riding Local Plan.

There is also concern over the “overbearing” nature of eight-storey buildings dominating the approach to Hedon, the increase to traffic on an already busy section of road and concern that the flood risk had not been adequately considered.