A dog groomer, a classic car company, and a manufacturer of hand-dyed yarn are amongst the tenants of Caistor’s newly-opened Hillcrest Park, which is made up of of 17 rural enterprise units.
The park is home to 11 businesses from a wide range of sectors which West Lindsey District Council leader Owen Bierley was thrilled to visit. He said: “Having closely followed this site’s progress I was especially pleased to learn how it has supported such a diverse range of businesses. I find it of great interest that the occupants of the site have all relocated from within a small local radius. This reaffirmes the importance of ensuring that local business development can occur to support rural economies and community vibrancy and prosperity.”
The development was given planning permission in 2016 and sought to regenerate an empty site in a strategic and prominent location alongside the A46. The development was supported by funding from the Rural Development Programme for England.
Property Developer and Investor Oliver Lawrence said: “As someone who has grown up in Caistor I knew there would be strong demand for the premises. It’s been a challenging process to achieve the vision we set out with a few years ago, but we’ve got there, and it really is fantastic that Hillcrest Park has turned a dilapidated site into one that is now thriving with local enterprise”.
Cllr Steve Critten of Caistor Town Council and Caistor Community Trust said: “It is great to see the site is finally complete and active with tenants.
“I am very keen to highlight engagement opportunities for businesses as part of the Caistor Neighbourhood Plan review that is now underway. The current plan adopted in 2016 supported development of the Hillcrest site via its policy which sought to support the development of business and start up units particularly by conversion of existing empty previously developed land. Speaking to the developer and business owners it is clear we need to try and ensure that when businesses do expand there is opportunity to do so in Caistor and this needs to be reflected in the review of the Neighbourhood Plan”.
