South Elmsall: Next warehouse gets own postcode to cut traffic

The retailer says the new warehouse will create around 400 full-time jobs

A new warehouse for retailer Next has been given its own postcode to stop lorry drivers using nearby town centres as "rat runs".

Wakefield Council's planning and highways committee approved proposals for a fourth depot to be built in South Elmsall, despite traffic concerns.

Steve Tulley, councillor for South Kirkby and South Elmsall, had called for more road safety measures.

He said: "It is a massive site. You can see it from outer space."

"There had been problems with lorry drivers using nearby town centres as rat runs to get to the site," Mr Tulley said.

Next's regional estates manager, Gary Robinson, said: "Having a postcode for the site would help drivers find the site more easily using sat-nav."

He said they had increased the number of signs guiding drivers and had liaised with contractors to ensure the site was accessed by using main roads, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The fourth warehouse will create more than 400 jobs in the former mining town, bringing the total number of Next employees on the wider site to 5,000.

It was approved after a meeting was told how "special circumstances" allowed for development on greenbelt land due to a shortage of job opportunities locally.