Work on £120m Coseley complex could start early next year

Work on a new £120million business park in Coseley could get under way early next year if plans are given the go-ahead by council chiefs tonight.

A 66-acre site will be transformed with business units, a supermarket and wholesale warehouse, which could create up to 1,300 jobs.

A community hall and full-sized football pitch would be built on the site at the same time.

They will be on an area stretching between Birmingham New Road and Sedgley Road West.

An outline planning application is due to go before council planners at Dudley Council House tonight and have been recommended for approval by officers.

The site's owner, Skelton Group Investments, said today it was looking to begin work on the scheme called the Coseley Eco Parkearly in 2013 if planning permission is granted.

"Work could start very early next year if everything goes to plan. This is just an outline planning application so we would need to get more detailed plans approved first which we will look to submit later this year."

A planning application for a waste processing plant -called an Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) – on the site is also due to be submitted at a later date.

This part of the plans has proven controversial and a petition signed by 153 people and 22 letters of objection has gone to Dudley Council.

Residents living nearby to the proposed development fear it is too close to homes and will increase traffic in the area.

The site is currently home to around 30 manufacturing and light industrial business employing about 120 people on Newey Business Park, Wellington Industrial Estate and Bean Road Industrial Estates.