1 Nov. 2022: Local councillors have approved the massive £600m redevelopment of the former Shotton newsprint mill.

UPM agreed a deal to sell the mill to Eren Paper a subsidiary of Turkish group Modern Karton which is itself part of conglomerate Eren Holdings, in May 2021.

The £600m plan to transform the Deeside site under its new owner was announced earlier this year.

Phase one will include a container board building, new warehouse and dispatch facilities, and a combined heat and power boiler unit on the 148 acre site.

Subsequent phases of the project will include a corrugated packaging factory and tissue factory.

The reinvention of the mill is expected to create 660 new jobs, with the first phase scheduled to be operational in 2024.

The transformed facility will produce up to 750,000 tonnes of cardboard per annum, and will also have the capacity to recycle all of the waste paper generated in Wales.

Flintshire County Council’s planning committee approved the plans last week.

Arup, supported by architects AHR, is leading the project.

Jo Francis, https://www.printweek.com