Keighley could soon be home to the only “space test” centre in the North thanks to a £9m scheme that will be discussed by Council bosses next month.
The Space Test North centre could bring 50 jobs to the town, and “establish Keighley as a nationally-important hub for space technology.”
It would be based at Providence Park, a business park off Dalton Lane that was built using cash from the Keighley Towns Fund.
At a meeting of Bradford Council’s Reform led Executive on September 8, members will be asked to provide a grant from Keighley’s Local Regeneration Fund grant to company BSC Filters Ltd to “facilitate a significant inward investment into a space equipment testing facility in Keighley, to boost economic development, skills and training, in line with the district’s Regeneration & Growth Strategy, delivering new advanced research, testing and manufacturing capacity.”
A report to the Executive says: “This project gives Bradford District a rare opportunity to secure a globally backed investment that would create the North’s only space-testing facility, anchor a growing space and RF cluster in Keighley, generate high-skilled jobs, develop local talent, and establish the district as a nationally important hub for advanced manufacturing and space technology.”
The Executive is being asked to approve a maximum grant of £4.524 million from the Local Regeneration Fund for MPG Europe, a brand under Dover Corporation’s MPG operating company, towards the £9 million capital cost of developing the new facility at Providence Park, in the town centre.
The remaining capital investment would be provided by Dover Corporation, and if the expenditure is less than £9.048 million, the grant contribution will be capped at 50 per cent. The Council grant would be funded entirely from its existing £19.8 million Levelling Up Fund allocation for Keighley (now known as the Local Regeneration Fund).
Space Test North would provide specialist radio frequency and environmental testing for space and satellite hardware and there is currently no comparable facility of this kind across the region.
Councillor Andrew Judson, Bradford Council’s Lead Member for Economy, Planning and Regeneration, said: “This is a genuinely exciting opportunity for Keighley and for the whole of our district.
“We already have a strong and growing space, radio frequency and advanced manufacturing cluster across the Aire Valley but crucially, this is about people as well as technology. It is set to create permanent skilled jobs, specialised training and career pathways.
“We are being asked to make a strategic investment in Keighley’s future as a place to create and innovate, strengthening our position as an emerging UK space hub.”
The facility would comprise around 1,400 square metres of industrial testing space and 200 square metres of training space, equipped with specialist technology including a mix of vacuum chamber, thermal chamber, humidity chamber and vibration table to recreate conditions encountered in space.
