A £150 million business park expansion that will include a new hotel, pub, drive-thru café and more office buildings will create hundreds of new jobs. Derby City Council’s planning committee has been recommended by planning officers to give the thumbs up to massive plans to transform Derby’s Infinity Park site, situated south of the city.
The current 100-acre business park is located next to Rolls-Royce’s Sinfin base. The business park has office complexes and the iHub building which boasts “high specification offices” and workshop units said to be ideal for holding conferences and events.
In 2021 developer Infinity Park LLP gained planning consent for “Project Ivory” to create more office space and the development of the new nuclear manufacturing and research centre, which according to planning documents are both currently under construction.
Now, bosses at Infinity Park Derby want to attract more businesses to the city. At this stage outline permission is sought for development, so the finer details about its layout and how the potentially expanding business park will look in the future will go through a separate planning application – if this first step gets approval from councillors.
That first step is to be decided at an important meeting on Thursday (July 13) evening. The meeting will also see councillors decide on whether the current Eagle Market and the Castle and Falcon pub in Derby city centre should be demolished to make way for new regeneration plans.
Access to the site will mainly be provided by the new A50 junction and link road which is set to be built, subject to a business case being approved by the Government. Currently, it is expected that construction on the road will start in March 2025, although this could change.
Vehicle access to the proposed site will also come by a plan to extend Infinity Park Way to create a new primary access road. The proposals involve some off-site highway works including changes to the Chellaston Road/Boulton Lane/Merrill Way junction.
Currently, public transport provision has not yet been extended to Infinity Park Way. Discussions with bus firm provider Arriva are currently ongoing with the potential to provide two buses an hour into the Infinity Park Derby area. However, the city council says this will need to be done when there is a “sufficient level of development” to provide the demand to make new bus services sustainable.
Infinity Park Derby LLP says the scheme “meets the high quality development objectives of all relevant stakeholders, fulfils the aspiration of the vision, and is sustainable”. The planning statement adds: “Accordingly, the scheme is compliant with the policies of the council and will provide an important economic investment to the area.”
Planning officers at Derby City Council have recommended approval subject to Section 106 agreements being agreed at a future date. Officers say job creation during the construction and operational phases of the development “are significant benefits arising from the proposal that have been given significant weight and are deemed to outweigh any harm arising”.
