Plans to extend Telford business park to be decided next week

Plans for 26 new commercial units have been put forward on land off Halesfield 20

The buildings will be for business, general industry and storage and distribution and will see a growth of the exiting Halesfield business park.

The outline plans also makes provisions for bin storage areas, 111 car parking spaces including disabled spaces and cycle storage.

The application site has previously been allocated as an area committed for employment development within the Wrekin Local Plan.

The plans have been recommended for approval by officers and will be decided by the Telford & Wrekin Council's planning committee at is meeting at The Whitehouse Hotel in Wellington on Wednesday.

It is the latest in a number of major business investments in Telford.

Another factory matching the massive new Magna site in size could be on the way to Telford, with discussions already under way with prospective occupiers.

Magna's factory making castings for Jaguar Land Rover at T54 in Telford under the name of the company's subsidiary Cosma is one of the biggest inward investments into the region in years, and will create about 300 jobs in its first phase alone.

But Telford could soon welcome another major employer, with talks going on with two prospective occupiers for a new factory site.

While the former Maxell factory at Apley is earmarked for 500 homes, land opposite it is considered a possible development site which could welcome another major employer into the borough.

Telford & Wrekin Council's Land Deal was signed in March last year, and gave the authority control over a number of HCA sites which could be brought to market more quickly.

The deal lets the council sell the land for above the agency's expected price, using its understanding of the local area, with the excess divided between the authority and the HCA.

In 2016-17, the first year of the land deal has delivered 277 homes and 400 jobs, the council says. The second year of the 10-year programme is set to return the same again.

Rosewood Pet Products, based in Broseley, is set to create 60 jobs in Telford when it opens a new distribution at Hortonwood West, a site which has been brought to market following public investment in the surrounding land.

Another company is earmarked for the property next door, with another 15 jobs on the way when that currently-unnamed occupier makes the leap to the new premises next month.

Airport furniture specialist Baker Bellfield on Stafford Park is also soon to begin work on a new building on Hortonwood West, beside the council's solar farm.

That site has also been supported by the Marches LEP, allowing new access roads to be built to allow the buildings which are appearing on the site to be built.