Hopes for 40 jobs at Harper Adams University food hub

The 20,000 sq ft centre at Harper Adams University, near Newport, would include laboratories, development kitchens and research workshops.

It would replace poultry sheds and a car park which were built in the 1960s.

Architects Michael Hyde and Associates, in the application for the university, said the centre would complement the West Midlands Regional Food Academy, which was opened in 2009.

The application says: "This building provides facilities for specialist food courses where practical and academic learning can be undertaken to study food production, processing and preservation.

"The intention of the innovation centre is to complement these resources by providing some specialist research and development facilities which will not only benefit staff and students at the university but also provide a number of additional employment opportunities.

"In a wider social context, the innovation centre will offer consequential benefits to the local and wider rural economy and community."

The university says the centre would create 36 full-time jobs and two part-time.

Michael Hyde and Associates said there had been consultation with Telford & Wrekin Council's planning department and he had been told the authority was likely to back the development.

There has been huge investment at Harper Adams. The team has delivered a 40 per cent expansion, worth more than £20 million in total. That includes the construction of the Aspire Centre, which received £1.9m in funding, and the £3m anaerobic digester, which opened in 2011 and creates energy from waste products.

Other additions include the Companion Animal House which houses a wide range of small mammals and exotic species like degus, snakes, rabbits, chinchillas, guinea pigs, geckos and lizards called skinks, and the Bamford Library.