BUSINESSES on an industrial estate which has suffered from years of access issues due to flooding are going from strength to strength, partly due to a unique collaboration which saw a bridge built, a meeting has heard.

A full meeting of Hambleton District Council was told following the opening of Dalton Bridge, near Thirsk, over an area that has regularly flooded, numerous firms on Dalton Industrial Estate had stepped up investment on the site and taken on extra staff.

The authority’s leader, Councillor Mark Robson, said without the bridge, which was funded from the district council, North Yorkshire County Council and firms on the estate, businesses had been set to leave the area.

Following the council’s leading members and officers visiting the estate, Cllr Robson said one firm had pumped an extra £600,000 into its base there while the authority was supporting steel firm Severfield Rowen as it had been shortlisted for the Heathrow Terminal 6 contract.

Cllr Robson said: “That would bring a whole new raft of business to the already successful business that operates on Dalton Industrial Estate.”

It is understood the district council is considering using a similar public-private collaboration to create further space for businesses at Leeming Bar Industrial Estate, near Bedale.