A SECOND Chester Business Park could create hundreds of new jobs - possibly in Wales.

The idea of a Chester Business Park 2 in an area south-west of the city or Flintshire is being championed by councillors from both sides of the border.

Their blueprint for economic and social development includes a premier business park to build on the success of the existing Chester Business Park.

A number of possible sites south west of the city and on Deeside have been identified but environmentalists are already warning against encroaching on to the green belt.

It is the powerful brand of Chester which will make it an attractive business location and the document - part of the new West Cheshire / North East Wales Sub-Regional Spacial Strategy - talks of finding 'a new site of comparable quality, size and location.'

One possible site is RAF Sea-land, now surplus to Ministry of Defence requirements.

Chester City Council leader, Cllr David Evans said: 'If businesses want to come here it would be very foolish of us to tell them they can't, providing we can find ways of accommodating them.'

Chester MP Christine Russell said: 'The complete supporting infastructure must be there from day one - it cannot be an add-on that never happens.

'The jobs created must be sustainable, and we also need to look at transport, housing and the environment. Chester has always been good at providing jobs in the retail and catering sector.

'The difficulty has been in providing highly-skilled, highly-qualified jobs which en-courage graduates from Chester to stay in the city.

'That has started to change and is more important than ever with the creation of the University of Chester, so we need to build on our success.'

Stephen Welch, chief executive of the Chester, Ellesmere Port & North Wales Chamber of Commerce, said: 'The new business park proposals will represent a vote of confidence in Chester's commercial development'

Alarm bells are ringing among green campaigners because the study admits some potential sites are within the existing green belt.

The study states: 'In limited instances there may be a case for greenfield development where other gains outweigh the loss of greenfield land.'

Ann Jones, Chester's planning coordinator for the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, said: 'This document seems to be lacking in evidence demonstrating a second business park is needed, especially on Green Belt land - we don't know what it is based upon.

'There are plenty of brownfield sites in this sub-region if they want to create more jobs.'

Charlie Seward, Chester City Council's regeneration manager, explained that the consultants behind the strategy document were suggesting the park might cater for financial services and other knowledge-based sectors .

But Cllr Evans said: 'We're keen to ensure we are not over-dependent on one particular economic sector. The more alternative jobs there are the better.'

rob.devey@cheshirenews.co.uk

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