The type of development envisaged at the new industrial park.

CLEARANCE work at the 16-acre Saltpans industrial site is gathering pace.

Saltpans Investments Ltd, part of the Long Port Group, bought the former vinery for more than £7m. in May and began demolition of the derelict glasshouses and outbuildings in October.

That work is expected to continue into the early summer, but Saltpans Investments Ltd senior development surveyor Mark Ogier hoped the first occupants of Saltpans Park would be in place in the first quarter of 2010.

The response from interested parties has been good, but with some negotiations fairly far down the road, he said it would be inappropriate to comment on exactly who they are or how many there were.

However, he did confirm the site would not be fully occupied when it opened.

‘We are very much looking at this as a phased development, probably over a period of a few years.

‘We wouldn’t want to build all the units straight off and find that there’s nobody to occupy them.’