UK’s first sustainable business park gets planning permission

The first phase of a plan to transform a 300-acre site in Kent into the UK’s first sustainable business park has received planning permission, with work due to start this spring, a recent news report in the local media has been able to find.

Willmott Dixon has been granted planning permission for its £7.5m sustainable energy visitor centre project at Betteshanger Colliery in Kent, part of a £120m project to regenerate an economically deprived part of the country.

Betteshanger Sustainable Business Parks near Dover will combine business, eco-tourism, research and development sectors on one site. The scheme will transform Betteshanger Colliery into a hub for business, sustainability and education.

Work on the first phase of the scheme is due to start in spring with completion set for spring 2016. The next stage, to create a business and commercial park that provides an education and enterprise campus complex, will follow once planning has been achieved.

The country park currently has a temporary visitor centre and the new development will pave the way for Betteshanger to become a global laboratory for green technologies by fusing green technology innovation with both tourism and business.

Eco-tourism is expected to attract 150,000 visitors annually and the UK’s only Mining Heritage Museum will also be constructed on the site of the old Colliery.The whole project is set to give a substantial boost to the local economy, creating up to 1,100 jobs.

It will attract large companies and investors as well as a new wave of business start-ups which is set to drive economic growth in this area of Kent.

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