Work completed on £44m i54 site link road

The link road, funded by Wolverhampton and Staffordshire councils, was the key to winning the JLR factory against fierce competition from across the UK and around the world.

South Staffordshire District Council has been the planning authority for the site and the three councils have worked closely together on securing i54 as the home for the JLR factory and the subsequent development work.

The council bosses were taken on a tour of the new road, with its new bridge across the M54 motorway, which will provide the main access route on to the site for both workers and the lorries bringing in raw materials and taking away completed products from JLR and the other factories on the site: aerospace component manufacturer Moog, stamp printer ISP and food and biological testing firm Eurofins.

The road has been paid for by the two councils and built by Staffordshire County Council. The council's leader Philip Atkins said its total cost was £12 million less than if it had been a central government project. Part of the agreement is that South Staffordshire Council will use the business rates from companies on the i54 site to pay off the costs of the link-road project.

Councillor Atkins said: "When all three council leaders heard that JLR were looking to build an engine factory it took just seconds for us to say that we needed to land it here.

"Jaguar Land Rover were looking at 100 sites across the world, narrowed it down to 17 and then to three: one in South Wales, another in India and the i54. The key was that motorway junction."

He added: "This is a project that will serve the Black Country and Staffordshire for 30 or 40 years – long after we are dead and buried."

The i54 site was the home to well-paid jobs at companies producing high quality manufactured goods, said Mr Atkins. "But if people in the Black Country and Staffordshire don't take up the jobs here because they haven't got the skills we will have failed. Schools and colleges need to rise up to the challenge as well as people raising their aspirations. The jobs are there."

Cllr Roger Lawrence, leader of Wolverhampton City Council, added: "I54 will stand as one of the most important business sites in the region and nationally.

"The partnership we formed with Staffordshire and South Staffordshire was visionary and highly ambitious. Today we can celebrate what we have achieved.

"The mark of the success of this development is the global businesses we have attracted which will lead to so much more investment and new jobs across our region. Through careful planning and close working across the partnership and with Government and business, we have delivered a prime location for business which is highly accessible.

"We look forward to the opening of the new junction next month and seeing new businesses on site which will support sustained growth in our economy."