Shotton Mill’s £600m tissue factory approved

Eren Holdings, the owner of the 210-acre Shotton Mill site at Deeside Industrial Park, wants its tissue production to become “a flagship exemplar project in the UK and Europe.”

SLR Consulting oversaw the application on Eren Holdings’ behalf. Flintshire County Council confirmed the application unanimously yesterday.

The application site, north of the existing mill, covers a developable area of 1.7 acres within which a 74,500 sq ft tissue paper factory will be installed.

Existing buildings will be adapted for reuse rather than demolished and will host workshop spaces, storage rooms, a kitchen and canteen, and a laboratory.

According to the planning statement, “tissue production was a key rationale for the need to develop Shotton in supporting the UK in becoming self-sufficient in tissue”.

The Shotton Mill site already has planning permission for the wider redevelopment and expansion of the site, part of a £1bn investment to transform the site into one of the UK’s largest cardboard and tissue recycling and production sites.

Eren Holdings’ proposition for the Shotton Mill site was granted in October 2022.

The UK is currently a net importer of both containerboard products and tissue products, while at the same time being a net exporter of recycled (waste) paper.

Eren Holdings estimates the scheme would invest £600m in the local area. Documents suggest the extension could employ an additional 660 people.

Reacting to the proposition, Cllr Hillary McGuill, said: “Anything that creates more employment in the area, I’m for.”

In September, UK Export Finance agreed to underwrite £136m of debt financing for the Turkish developer’s regeneration of the paper mill. The Welsh government also contributed £13m to the scheme.

Other occupiers at Deeside Industrial Park include Tata Steel, Toyota, Unilever, and Great Bear Distribution.