Adrian Cox and Tim Allen were delighted to be present the Aiskew Agritech Park scheme to the Cabinet of North Yorkshire Council at County Hall in Northallerton this morning.  This is the first time that the scheme has been mentioned publicly, and represents the culmination of months of work to prepare the project for launch.

The meeting focussed on the need for the Park and the benefits it could bring.  We explained to Cabinet members that food security was becoming a big issue, and bringing the capacity to grow more of our won food was important in a changing world.  The Agritech Park would be good for North Yorkshire, bringing hi-tech jobs to the area and linking traditional and new methods of growing.  We concluded that this built on North Yorkshire’s strong heritage of agriculture, and the Park would be carefully designed to take its place in this landscape.

Members listened carefully, and asked about energy supply to the site, the proposed planning approach and potential occupiers.  They were keen to be kept informed of the progress of the project as it moved forward.

Cllr Paul Haslam commented, “I was delighted and grateful to be privy to these bold ideas that clearly gave an indication of what we in North Yorkshire can do to build on our agricultural strengths and play our part in food security for the UK in a sustainable, climate and environmentally friendly way. It’s an opportunity to create great jobs; new innovation in both growing and associated agritech and the opportunity to export our knowledge to deliver best practice across the world. One additional thing that we have is plentiful supply of water, which is vital to the success of development like this. Parts of the UK are now suffering drought conditions for part of the year”.

He can rest assured that we will take on board his comments and concerns, and embed these into the heart of the proposals.