Shrewsbury luxury car dealership will safeguard jobs
Plans for a new £3 million car dealership headquarters in Shrewsbury, safeguarding 45 jobs and creating 15 new posts have been backed by planning chiefs.
The proposed 12,685 sq m Mercedes Benz dealership has been recommended for approval at Thursday's Shropshire Council central planning committee. If backed by council members, it would be built on land adjacent to the Rural Enterprise Centre in Stafford Drive, Shrewsbury.
The two-storey new build will include a ground floor showroom, offices, parts store, customer lounge, reception, workshop, MOT facility, and the formation of 110 car parking spaces for staff and customers.
More than £3 million will be pumped into the new site and 45 existing members of staff will have their jobs at the current site on Battlefield Road safeguarded.
It will also create 15 new full-time jobs and a number of apprentice posts, bosses have confirmed.
The proposal has been submitted by Warwick Holdings Ltd, a family owned motor dealer group, where its main business is the operation of seven Mercedes-Benz dealerships in the Midlands, including the Shrewsbury site, through its subsidiary company, Drayton Group.
They said the lease on their current premises expires in 2014 and admitted the current layout was 'poor' and expensive to run with old buildings and two separate showrooms to man.
Gareth Jones, for agents Tyler Parkes Planning and Architecture, has warned that if the new Shrewsbury plant fails to go through, it could lead to the collapse of all seven sites in the franchise and uncertainty for more than 300 jobs – including sites in Walsall, Wolverhampton, Stourbridge and Worcester.
But the plans have also attracted objections with some arguing the site has never been allocated for development and is not within the SAB local plan or the council's SAMDev master plan.
Stuart Thomas, central area development management officer at Shropshire Council, said in a report to committee: "The proposed development will deliver inward investment by retaining an established business into Shropshire along with an increase in jobs."
He added that the application is consistent with the area's strategic approach.
By David Seadon
