Industrial park's jobs boost

RAF Sealand could be redeveloped

An RAF base in north Wales could be redeveloped just six months after its closure was announced.

RAF Sealand employs 135 civilian workers, with around 142 RAF military personnel also on site.

In April, the Ministry of Defence announced its closure with its units moving to RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire.

However, Flintshire Council is keen to utilise the space and encourage industrial companies to take it on.

The new proposal could solve the problem of expanding the Deeside Industrial Park.

Eight thousand people already work on the 600 acre site and space to extend is at a minimum.

Objections

Thousands of jobs could be created if the expansion plans, which include developing part of the Corus site in Shotton, go ahead.

Councillors and local officers from the Flintshire authority are travelling to Cardiff next month to discuss their proposals with the Welsh Assembly's Economic Development officer Andrew Davies.

Flintshire council leader Alex Aldridge has said the development would have a major impact on the prosperity of the county.

Originally a civil airfield, Sealand was taken over in 1916, and was used for training and later, maintenance.

Sealand is currently used as an communications support base for RAF operations around the world.

If the closure plan is implemented, RAF Sealand would close in April 2006.

Large companies currently based on the industrial park include Shotton Paper, Toyota and Iceland.

A spokesman for the Welsh Development Agency said they welcome the plans but further discussions are required.

Plans to expand the industrial site have failed in the past.

In 2002 the WDA proposed to expand the Flintshire site, in a move they claim would have created up to 3,000 jobs.

But villages on the Wales-Cheshire border had objected to the plan, which would have covered 500 acres of prime agricultural land.

The Welsh Assembly Government subsequently decided against the scheme because the loss of land could not be justified.