Planned i54 extension creating 3,000 jobs takes step forward

The park is located north of Wolverhampton in Pendeford, next to the M54, and is home to Jaguar Land Rover.

Now plans have been lodged with South Staffordshire Council to extend the site by 60 acres.

It is hoped the extension could provide a base for one large or several smaller employers, with up to 2,700 jobs on site.

The development could also generate up to £600million in investment.

Staffordshire County Council leader Philip Atkins said: “The success of i54 South Staffordshire has been outstanding – attracting global leaders in their sectors and thousands of skilled jobs.

“While we celebrate the fact that these businesses are located here, i54 South Staffordshire has a huge impact across our area.

“It is therefore no surprise about the demand to locate here – and the subsequent need for expansion.

"i54 South Staffordshire will play a vital part in the growing productivity of Staffordshire and our neighbours.”

Wolverhampton councillor John Reynolds, responsible for the city's economy, said: “i54 is one of the UK’s premier advanced manufacturing business parks.

“Our joint investment at i54 has secured hundreds of millions of pounds of further investment and has brought thousands of jobs to the area, with 40 per cent of employees living within a ten-mile radius.

“Demand is high for more accommodation from potential investors and the western extension will enable us to deliver that for the benefit of local residents and businesses.”

More than £1 billion has so far been invested in the current i54 site, with 2,500 people employed by companies based there.

They include JLR, Moog, ISP, Eurofins, ERA and Tentec.

The i54 Western Extension would be accessed via the new junction off the M54 that was built to serve the JLR engine manufacturing centre.

The extension will also use the existing infrastructure and a new access road – with bus services – would be built by the county council from the original business park to the extension site with no access from Wobaston Road or Pendeford Hall Lane.

The land is currently green fields.

Aggregates and waste material solution firm FGD, which is based in Wombourne, is supporting the extension plans having worked on the original site construction.

The business has taken on 11 new employees since its involvement with i54 South Staffordshire. It has also developed three apprentices who all live within five miles of its Wombourne headquarters.

FGD’s work during construction involved removing 200,000 tonnes of soil from the site and taking on 200,000 tonnes of stone.

Since it took on the i54 South Staffordshire contract in 2012, FGD has seen its annual turnover increase from £9m to £23m.

The i54 contract has directly contributed between £6m and £7m.

FGD is now looking forward to further growth plans and local expansion, taking on more employees and apprentices. It has a second office in Rugby and customers across the country.

The company used a Wombourne business to livery its vehicles, a local business to design its website and a building firm from Kinver to expand its offices.

Spencer Davies, director of FGD, said: “FGD Limited firmly believes in investment in local people and promoting within.

"This core ethos only happens when growth happens locally to. Such further investment into the i54 site will allow this to continue for many years.”