Durham County Council have approved joint venture developer Richardson Barberry plans to create a £140m business park with the potential to create over 3,100 jobs.

Outline planning permission was granted to Forrest Park (Newton Aycliffe) Ltd to develop a 55-hectare site into 1.75 million sq ft of business, industrial, warehouse and trade units, a 60-bed hotel, public house and roadside restaurant and retail units next to the A1.

Jonathan Robinson, director of Barberry Developments, said: “The approval of the Forrest Park planning application is major news for the North East. Working alongside Durham County Council, the Forrest family and the Local Enterprise Partnership, our vision is to create a business park that provides a wide range of high-quality accommodation, which will attract local, regional, national and international occupiers, stimulating economic growth and new jobs for the region.

“We now have a prominent motorway-connected, serviced and consented site oven-ready for development. We are excited at the prospect of delivering one of the North East’s premier business parks. We can provide building options for smaller occupiers on the trade park and bigger building options of circa 20,000 sq ft to 500,000 sq ft on the site”

The development will extend Aycliffe Business Park, at Newton Aycliffe, to become the largest in the North East. It is a joint venture by the council and the Forrest family, supported by commercial property developer Richardson Barberry.

Cllr Simon Henig, Leader of Durham County Council, said: “I am delighted plans for Forrest Park have been approved. This is an opportunity for us to attract new businesses to County Durham, creating thousands of high-quality jobs and boosting the local economy.”

In 2018 planning permission was granted to improve access to the site.