New £18.5m Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone road helps Natures Aid supply Holland & Barrett and Amazon
“Essential to support business growth and help create high-quality jobs for local people.”
A new £18.5 million access road serving Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone is already helping businesses expand.
Vickers Way, which connects Common Edge Road to Amy Johnson Way, opened last month to provide better access to an area which is already home to more than 200 businesses supporting over 4,000 jobs, with ambitions to create 5,000 new jobs by 2041.
And businesses are already seeing the benefits.
One of the first businesses to benefit is Natures Aid, which has opened a new distribution centre on Amy Johnson Way. Previously operating at full capacity from its base in Kirkham, the company relocated its dispatch operations to the new facility to support continued growth.
The site has the capacity to dispatch more than 500,000 packs each month to customers in more than 50 countries, including major retailers Holland & Barrett and Amazon. Six staff have also transferred to the new centre, with room for further expansion.
Vickers Way has also created a quicker link between the distribution centre and the company's manufacturing base in Kirkham, helping improve efficiency. The road also includes a shared footpath and cycle lane, while Blackpool Transport now operates a bus service along the route.
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‘High-quality jobs for local people’
“It’s fantastic to see the impact that Vickers Way is already having in supporting local businesses to grow,” said Cllr Mark Smith, Blackpool Council’s Cabinet Member for Economy and Built Environment. “Creating a new access road to the Enterprise Zone has significantly improved connectivity, making the site even more attractive for investment, which is e”E.
“The new road has also unlocked new development opportunities to enable long-term economic growth across the Fylde Coast, which is all part of the council’s plan to make Blackpool better for both residents and businesses. We are already seeing strong interest in the new development land, with more local companies looking to follow Natures Aid and expand within the area.”
Looking ahead, commercial land alongside Vickers Way is now available for future business development. Initial teething problems with the road have also been resolved - at first, large lorry and HGV drivers were unable to make a right-hand turn on the new road and were forced to mount the pavement in order to complete the manoeuvre.
Blackpool Council carried out work on the road to resolve the issue last week.
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‘Efficient and cost-effective’
Craig Kennett, Head of Operations at Natures Aid, said: “We are delighted to move on to Blackpool Enterprise Zone and occupy a fantastic modern facility to drive future growth in our business.
“We have already started to enjoy the benefits of having all our stock under one roof, achieving 99.8% of picks within a 24-hour period to give our customers a much improved service. We now have a more efficient and cost effective model for the dispatching of finished goods and a highly motivated team enjoying working from the new facility.”
Interested businesses can visit www.blackpoolez.com to enquire