Next South Elmsall expansion set to 'create 1,000 jobs'

The retailer said it could start work on the expansion straight away

Retailer Next has been given the go-ahead to build a new warehouse in West Yorkshire, creating about 1,000 jobs.

The firm will extend its current site in South Elmsall, near Wakefield, to meet demand for online sales, it said.

Wakefield Council heard although the development will be on greenbelt land, "special circumstances" dictated it was appropriate given the economic benefit.

To clear space for it, a farmhouse and nearby travellers will be moved, a planning meeting was told on Thursday.

About 650 of the jobs expected to be created will be full-time posts.

The current distribution centre on Field Lane in South Elmsall already employs hundreds of people

Next said it would be looking to recruit a mixture of engineers, drivers, IT administrators, operatives and managers.

Company representative Gary Robinson said it wanted local people to fill the vacancies "wherever possible", the Local Democracy Service reported.

He added: "Firstly I'd like to emphasise that this isn't a speculative scheme, with uncertainty about who will occupy it and when.

"Next's online operations are growing faster than ever and we need the additional space today."

• Read more news from across Yorkshire

Mr Robinson said the company had set itself an "ambitious target" of having the new warehouse at least partially up and running by early 2022.

Objections to the scheme had originally been lodged by families living on the nearby traveller's site.

However, these were later withdrawn after a plan to relocate the travellers 90 metres away to another similar-sized site was agreed.

Next will be asked to provide annual reports to the council for a number of years to demonstrate they have fulfilled promises about job creation.

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]