Amazon taking on 2,500 workers for Christmas at Rugeley base

It comes as the application to double the size of the 700,000 square feet warehouse in Rugeley was set to be approved, creating 350 new full-time jobs.

Amazon already has a workforce of more than 600 at the site.

Despite reporting a loss of £74 million in its second quarter – even though sales are up 23 per cent to £11.3 billion – the firm has created 330 permanent roles at the centre between October last year and February.

And Amazon's new plans will provide a further boost to the workforce.

The firm is hoping to reconfigure the interior of the building, which is home to many millions of products, in order to double its capacity. It will allow more items to be housed before they are sent out to customers.

Cannock Chase Council's planning control committee is expected to approve the application next week.

Growing

Chairman of Rugeley Town Council, Councillor John Rowley has welcomed the expansion.

"Amazon has brought quite a bit of work to the people of Rugeley," he said. "It seems to be growing by the hour. As it comes to Christmas they will need more and more workers. They might be temporary jobs, but it does get people used to doing a job rather than having them sat at home.

"They are an expanding company. I've ordered stuff myself from Amazon and they are so efficient," he added.

The scheme involves creating a new entrance and extra car parking spaces. A new roundabout would also be created, as well as a bus stop.

There would be a new lorry park to the northwest of the site and a four-arm roundabout to provide access to a HGV waiting area. That would be linked to the existing south service yard to create an on-site lorry parking area for up to 40 HGVs.

A new staff parking area would also be created close to the new employee entrance, providing 344 spaces, while a new access road to the site would be built off Wheelhouse Road.

However, Brereton and Ravenhill Parish Council has objected on the basis of the proximity of the site to existing homes. The council says that consent should not be granted without a noise assessment and a visual impact assessment.

Parish clerk Peter Davies said: "If this information had been provided we could have considered this in more detail.

"We think this information is critical. They are important aspects because they have implications for the people who are living in the vicinity. We wanted to ensure there wasn't any problems."

But environmental officers say they have been satisfied that noise arising from the proposal will not adversely impact neighbours.

According to the report, which will be put before planning chiefs next week, officers said a visual impact assessment was not necessary and the site is about 164ft from the nearest homes.

Amazon said in the reports that it expects to create about 2,500 seasonal roles at its Rugeley site this Christmas, compared to the 1,500 roles it created last year. The firm opened its Rugeley centre in September 2011.

Across the UK, Amazon has more than 7,000 permanent employees and in 2013 it created 15,000 temporary positions in the run-up to Christmas. The company has invested over £1 billion in its UK Operations.

It has other bases in Doncaster, Dunfermline, Gourock, Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keynes, Peterborough and Swansea Bay.

The US company has been investing heavily to build up its business around the world.

It is also spending on producing its own TV shows and computer games, but it has warned that sales could slow in the current quarter.

The firm is also hoping to be able to use delivery drones, unmanned aircraft, to deliver parcels in 30 minutes as part of an exciting new service.

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also recently launched a wearable technology store, featuring more than 100 different wearable devices including activity trackers, smart watches, smart glasses and wearable cameras.

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