WORK is to start on a multi-million-pound business park near Malton which will create 600 jobs.

The first phase of the 30-acre Eden Business Park, which is located immediately off the A64 at the Pickering Road junction near Eden Camp, will include mixed industrial and office development comprising two terraces of 20,000 sq ft each, with four units of 5,000 sq ft and two units of 10,000 sq ft.

The units will be ready for occupation, on a freehold or leasehold basis, from February next year.

Yorkshire-based developers CDP Marshalls have said they are confident that the business park, one of the largest speculative development in the area during the past 10 years, will prove popular, fulfilling a pent-up demand for quality industrial units with offices.

Miles Lawrence, director of York-based property consultants Lawrence Hannah, who are marketing Eden Business Park, said: “This is a very important development for the Malton area.

"It is providing six high-quality industrial warehouses, with office space, in a superb location, with easy access to York, the East Coast and to Yorkshire’s excellent motorway network.

“Importantly, it is just a mile north of Malton, a flourishing market town, which has reinvented itself as the food capital of North Yorkshire.

"There is no doubt that these units could provide much-needed accommodation for food processing, food distribution and farm-related enterprises. They will complement Malton’s thriving food and agriculture sector perfectly.

"Having said that, all types of occupiers are welcome.

“It is significant that this site has been promoted as a FEZ (Food Enterprise Zone) which speeds up delivery, now planning has already been secured, and may help secure grant opportunities for the appropriate business users to assist with their internal fit-outs,” said Mr Lawrence.

“This is the only Food Enterprise Zone in Yorkshire.”

The business park will feature a vibrant, highly-landscaped, semi-rural environment with infrastructure works such as access roads and a roundabout already in place.

These works have been part funded by a £2.1m grant through the Local Growth Fund.

The grant was awarded by the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) after a bid was put forward by CDP and Ryedale District Council (RDC).

The joint marketing agents for Eden Business Park are the Leeds-based property consultants AWS.

Julian Rudd, housing and planning lead for the LEP and external partnerships lead at RDC, said: “I’m delighted that work is about to begin on the Eden Business Park and Food Enterprise Zone, which has great potential to expand and strengthen the Ryedale economy.

"The site provides a wonderful opportunity to build on this area’s reputation for producing quality food and it includes land for relocating Malton’s livestock market.”