The final phase of development at Etruria Valley has been given the go-ahead by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, bringing good news to the North Staffordshire jobs market.
St. Modwen, the UK’s leading regeneration specialist, has successfully secured outline planning permission for the final phase at Etruria Valley, over a gross site of 36 acres. The whole of St. Modwen’s Etruria Valley scheme now has planning permission for a mix of office, industrial, warehouse, logistics and distribution uses which could create more than 1,600 jobs for the region.
The total Etruria Valley site has about 50 acres of developable land remaining, which has been reclaimed by St. Modwen ready for development, and could house up to 900,000 sq ft in buildings of up to 350,000 sq ft.
Etruria Valley is an extension of the very successful Festival Park and now totals over 300 acres. Festival Park has been developed by St. Modwen since 1988 on the former 165 acre National Garden Festival site, created following the closure of steel making at the Shelton Iron & Steel Works.
St. Modwen has massively extended the former Steel Rolling Mill site over the years, with its closure in the early 2000s marking an end to over 150 years of iron and steel production. Overall, the combined sites have so far generated around £190 million investment into North Staffordshire’s economy.
Mike Herbert, St. Modwen Regional Director, said, “With over 6,000 people employed at Etruria Valley and Festival Park, this final planning permission will help to create over 1,600 further jobs which will benefit not only the local community, but also North Staffordshire as a whole.”
Etruria Valley is extremely well positioned, being adjacent to the A500 trunk road with direct access to Junctions 15 and 16 of the M6 and links to the M1 via the A50, as well as close to Stoke railway station on the West Coast Main Line railway.
Euan Lindsay, senior development manager, St. Modwen adds, “St. Modwen continues to actively progress development at Etruria Valley, with construction currently underway on a major distribution centre for international parcel delivery firm DPD. The UK’s leading regeneration specialist is also awaiting planning consent for a new family-friendly pub and restaurant, Greene King’s Farmhouse Inn and we’re already talking to a number of occupiers with regard to this final phase.”
