Planning given to create 4,000 jobs on former ironworks

Plans have been approved to regenerate a historic East Midlands ironworks site Into 2.5 million sq ft of warehousing and industrial units.

Developers can take the first steps in redeveloping 200 acres of the historic Stanton Ironworks site, which runs alongside the M1 between Nottingham and Derby.

Remediation and demolition work could take 30 weeks. No warehouses can be built until reserved matters applications are submitted and approved, but work can start on the new access points, roundabout and internal roads.

The scheme will include a range of warehouse units from 15,000 sq ft, up to one million sq ft and would see the reintroduction of a mainline rail connection through a 17-acre rail hub.

The brownfield site to the south of Ilkeston has been derelict since 2007, having once been one of the region’s biggest employers.

Verdant Regeneration – a partnership between Ward Recycling and Trust Utilities – says the scheme would be named New Stanton Park and would be a “new beginning” for the area.

The plans were last week approved by Erewash Borough Council, and could eventually create up to 4,000 jobs.

Councillors said that while they had their concerns over traffic they felt that an opportunity to bring the site back into use could not be passed up.

Coun Paul Shelton said: “It is only when you visit this site that you appreciate how big it is and how much it is in need of redevelopment.

“It has been in need of redevelopment practically as long as I can remember. It is the largest brownfield site in Derbyshire and seeing this brought back into use and being redeveloped is an opportunity we can’t pass on.”

Coun Margaret Griffiths said: “This was probably the biggest employment site in Derbyshire, I’d imagine, and it is long past time that it is brought back into proper use.

“I hope traffic can be restricted in some way. It would be better if employees can be brought in by rail, and not just freight.”

At its height, the Stanton Ironworks employed 7,000 people, and was in use for more than 160 years, serving as a landmark industrial hub for the region.

The developer said the pandemic had pressed fast-forward on the surge towards online shopping with a vastly increased need for distribution sites.

Papers submitted by the firm say the construction and demolition stages of the development would create 562 jobs each year and that, when complete, that would increase to 4,000 jobs on-site and 400 jobs elsewhere.

The remaining portion of the site not taken up by this scheme, which lies south of Lows Lane, is earmarked for 1,000 homes by the borough council in its core strategy for the next couple of decades.