Bradford Council set to consider £4.5m grant towards £9m space-testing facility
The proposed Space Test North would be developed at Providence Park in Keighley town centre and would provide specialist radio frequency and environmental testing for space and satellite hardware.
The proposed facility would comprise approximately 15,000 sq ft of industrial testing space alongside 2,100 sq ft of training space.
Specialist equipment would include vacuum, thermal and humidity chambers, as well as a vibration table, designed to replicate the environmental conditions encountered by space and satellite hardware.
If approved, Space Test North would become the first dedicated radio frequency and environmental space-testing facility of its kind in the north of England, according to Bradford Council.
Bradford Council’s Executive Committee is due to consider the funding proposal next week.
MPG Europe, a brand under Dover Corporation’s MPG operating company, is seeking the grant towards the £9.048m capital cost of the scheme. The remaining investment would be provided by Dover Corporation.
The council’s contribution would be funded entirely from its existing £19.8m Local Regeneration Fund allocation for Keighley, formerly known as the Levelling Up Fund.
If the final project cost is less than £9.048m, the council grant would be capped at 50% of the total capital expenditure.
The project is expected to create more than 50 permanent skilled jobs at the Keighley site, with a further 40 jobs estimated to be supported through supply-chain activity and local spending.
Training and career pathways would also be developed through collaboration with the University of Bradford and Keighley College, including apprenticeship and continuous professional development opportunities.
Cllr Andrew Judson, Bradford Council’s lead member for economy, planning and regeneration, said the proposed investment represented an opportunity to strengthen Keighley’s position within the region’s growing space, radio frequency and advanced manufacturing sector: “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.”
