Opus North secures approval to develop £8.5m Armley retail park

Opus North, a Yorkshire-based property development and investment company, has been given the greenlight to develop a four-acre derelict site in Armley into a £8.5m new retail park.

Plans to develop the site, which previously housed the thermal cooling systems manufacturer DENSO Marston, have been approved by Leeds planners.

Construction of the retail park will commence this summer, with an aim of opening its doors in spring next year. A number of national retailers are already lined up as tenants.

The development, which will include a Wickes DIY store, a Pets at Home and other high-profile retailers, along with a 100-space car park, will be built on part of the site of the Guyson’s International factory on Keighley Road.

The approval of the Armley site comes jsut after Craven District Council gave the go-ahead for a £6.5m retail park in Skipton.

Andrew Duncan, managing director of Opus North, said: “These sizeable investments in Armley and Skipton will bring more jobs to the area and more choice to shoppers. They are major boosts to the local economy.”

Opus North has seen a boost in business during the past 12 months, and the Ilkely-headquartered company is capitalizing on an improving UK economy.

Mr Duncan added: “The go-ahead for our Armley and Skipton development means that we have received outline planning permission for seven new developments during the past 12 months, worth a combined total of £85m. Other multi-million pound projects are now underway at Darlington, Morecambe, Aberystwyth, Runcorn, Llandudno.”

In Darlington, a £10 million retail park in Albert Road has been given the go-ahead. This development will create 150 jobs in Darlington and be open by the end of this year.

Furthermore, plans for a £17m retail and leisure park at Morecambe have also been approved. Opus North is building a quality 100,000 sq ft complex of shops, a hotel, restaurants, a family pub and 376 parking spaces on the former 10-acre Frontierland fairground site at Morecambe Bay.

Mr Duncan also said: “We are very conscious of the importance of creating developments which fit in with, and serve, the community in which they are built. That is why we take tremendous trouble to ensure that our planning applications are submitted only after extensive public consultation and after a proper understanding of what a specific town needs.

“That, I think, explains our excellent 100 per cent success rate, together with the fact that all the developments will boost the local economy by creating jobs.”