A new £200 million energy park in East Yorkshire has received the support of leading employers — including Vodafone and IBM — as planning applications are submitted for the site.

The Association of British Insurers, Hull College, L&G Investment Management, SSE Utilities and ZTE are also backing the plans, which could create around 1,000 jobs.

An outline planning application for the Yorkshire Energy Park was submitted last month, and community information events have been organised to share the final proposals with the public (consultations have been held across the region since June last year). If the planning application is approved, work on the park could begin early next year.

The development on the former aerodrome, close to the Saltend BP plant, would generate millions of pounds of investment in the area, according to Yorkshire developer Eco Parks Developments Ltd, which is partnered with London-based Chilterns, a renewable-energy and infrastructure-project group.

The application for the site which is owned by Hull City Council, has been developed with support from a multi-disciplinary team led by GVA.

Chris Turner, chairman of the Yorkshire Energy Park project, said: “With the level of corporate backing already committed to this project, it has the potential to provide a major economic, education and training boost to this region and create a project template for the UK’s low-carbon industrial future, as set out in the Government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper.”