A £4.1m road scheme at one of the region’s key employment sites has opened, securing 850 jobs and a wave of investment.

Bosses of firms at Dalton Bridge Industrial Estate said the new bridge near its main entrance from the A168 had enabled them to significantly expand.

The estate is North Yorkshire’s largest business park in terms of jobs and other businesses are in talks about locating to the site near Thirsk. It has been estimated the scheme could lead to the creation of 1,050 jobs at the estate.

The partnership project between Hambleton District Council, businesses on the estate, the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Enterprise Partnership, North Yorkshire County Council, and the Environment Agency ends decades of uncertainty for the firms.

Cleveland Steel and Tubes managing director, Roy Fishwick, said when the Cod Beck flooded or there were concerns for the structure of the previous bridge, delivery drivers faced an 18-mile diversion and had to negotiate a farm track to access the site.

He said: “It was a nightmare and became a lot worse over the years.

“The bridge is enabling firms to take the next step and there is talk of developing more of the airfield.” 

Businesses, which provided £1.5m for the scheme alongside £1.8m from the enterprise partnership and £300,000 contributions from the district and county councils, said with the road raised 2.4m above the previous one they were able to assure customers they would be able to deliver 365 days a year.

Mr Fishwick said support from Hambleton council had been “superb”. 

Gary Wintersgill, managing director of Severfield (UK), which reported revenue of £274.2m for the year ending in March, added: “The new Dalton Bridge is a fantastic improvement for us to not only better access our site, but it also enables us to deliver our steel more freely across the country.”

Hambleton council’s economic development boss Councillor Peter Wilkinson, said: “International businesses were looking elsewhere for locations where they could be guaranteed access. The positive effect of the bridge is now being seen through significant investment by businesses into the industrial estate.”