Plans have been submitted to create the UK’s largest tissue paper mill in Goole, within the Humber Freeport tax site.
Finnish manufacturer Metsä Tissue and Wykeland Group, which owns the long-term development rights on the site, have worked closely together for more than two years to bring forward the plans.
Subject to planning approval, the 3m sq ft facility could create more than 400 jobs over the coming decade, in an investment spanning several hundred million pounds.
It is the first proposed development in the Goole tax site within the Humber Freeport, and is the largest investment across the Humber’s freeport footprint to date.
The facility could increase the UK’s self-sufficiency in the manufacture of essential tissue products by more than 30 per cent.
Wykeland Managing Director Dominic Gibbons said: “We identified the huge potential of this site several years ago and over the past two years have worked closely with Metsä Tissue to bring to fruition their ambition to create a world-class facility in the UK.
“With over 50 years’ experience in the Yorkshire region, we are delighted to bring our planning and development expertise to this project.”
Alan Jeffery, Technical Director, UK and Ireland, for Metsä Tissue, said: “We have worked collaboratively with Wykeland from the outset of our relationship through to the submission of this planning application.
“Our partnership has contributed to the project progressing smoothly to this point and we look forward to working together to take the development through the planning process.”
A CGI of the proposed tissue paper mill in Goole. Image credit: Metsä Tissue
With approximately 45 per cent of tissue products currently imported into the UK and Ireland, Metsä Tissue aims to replace almost half of the imported products with British production.
Using fresh fibre pulp as the main raw material from sustainably-managed Nordic forests, the proposed Goole facility could ultimately reach a production capacity of 240,000 ton of tissue paper to serve both the professional and consumer markets.
The Goole tax site, within Humber Freeport, spans almost 500 acres of prime development land across two plots, separated by the M62 motorway.
The proposed tissue paper mill would sit on the northern part of the tax site.
Businesses investing within a freeport tax site benefit from a series of advantages, ranging from business rate and stamp duty land tax relief, to National Insurance support designed to reduce employment costs.
The town of Goole has seen a wave of significant investment in recent years.
Siemens Mobility is at the forefront of the town’s rejuvenation, with an investment of up to £200m in a rail manufacturing facility, adjacent to the freeport tax site, where tube trains for London’s Piccadilly line are now being built.
Housebuilder Beal Homes chose to invest £210m in The Greenways development of 800 homes – one of the region’s largest current residential schemes – as well as in its public facilities, with Government funding directed through the Goole Town Deal.
Goole is one of three Humber Freeport tax sites, alongside Hull East and the Able Humber Port at Immingham.
- For more details on the Goole tax site, visit humberfreeport.org/where-are-we/goole/.
