BUS builders Optare plc has signed a 17-year lease on a property at Sherburn Distribution Park with an aim to bring new jobs to the region as the company grows.

The firm which will move into the area this summer hopes to build 1,200 buses at the new Sherburn plant each year, and said new jobs would be possible in future.

Optare, which has sites in Leeds, Rotherham and Blackburn, already provides buses for operators in the UK, including Arriva, as well as Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany. It is hoping to expand sales across Europe, using the Sherburn site as a base.

Martin Hayes, spokesman for Optare, said: “The staff at Optare in Crossgates will be transferring to the Sherburn-in- Elmet plant, so the number of jobs will remain about 400.

“It is possible that more jobs will be created in the area once the new facility is up and running in the Autumn, but it’s impossible to put a number or timescale on it.”

Optare’s arrival at the 140,000 square foot Sherburn site comes only months after Debenhams took a lease on a 667,000 square foot building last October, and two years after Sala International moved into a 92,000 square foot building.

David Fieldsend, of Selby Chamber of Commerce, said: “It’s always good to get jobs in the area, and good that they could employ people from the Selby area.

“North Yorkshire is a wonderful place to work and live and the more people and businesses we get in the area, the better.”

Paul Mack, an associate director of DTZ, who worked with the company to find the location and agree the deal, said the site had been chosen partly due to its proximity to the A1(M) and the M62, which would improve regional and national access.

He said: “We are delighted to have successfully attracted such a high profile manufacturer to Sherburn Distribution Park.

“This latest addition further demonstrates the capabilities of the area as a hot spot for manufacturing and distribution within the Yorkshire region.”

Former York Carriagework employees found work with Scarborough-based coach-building firm Plaxton when the factory on Holgate Road closed in the mid 1990s. Last June Plaxton shed jobs due to a slump in orders. Optare said it currently has a record number of orders on its books.

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Renewal sees industry return

COACHBUILDING was once part of York’s life blood. At its height, the ABB carriageworks in Holgate – and Thrall Europa after it – employed hundreds of local people.

Both have now gone. Plaxton in Scarborough continues the coach manufacturing tradition, although last year the company shed 75 jobs following a slump in orders.

It is great, therefore, to see a renewal of this proud industry in our area. The UK’s first new bus assembly plant for 40 years is set to open later this year at the Sherburn Distribution Park at Sherburn in Elmet.

There won’t, initially at least, be any new jobs. Instead, coachbuilder Optare will be relocating all 400 workers from its existing plant at Crossgates in Leeds.

Nevertheless, the firm’s move will involve substantial inward investment into our region, and is a real statement of faith in North Yorkshire as a place to do business.

A delighted Paul Mack, associate director of DTZ which helped Optare agree the deal, said the move “further demonstrates the capabilities of the area as a hotspot for manufacturing and distribution with the Yorkshire region”.

Even better, Optare – which, under one owner or another, has been building buses in Leeds since the 1930s – hopes to expand its overseas markets. If that happens, there may well be new jobs in the future.

York and the surrounding region rightly takes pride in the way it has been able to diversify its economy, into finance, science and technology.

But we have a proud manufacturing tradition as well, and it is good to see that it has not been entirely consigned to the history books.

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