Plans by discount store Poundland for a £40 million distribution centre in Harlow, which would create 650 jobs, are going on display today
The proposals for land on the Pinnacles Business Area on Elizabeth Way are being exhibited at Harlow Town Football Club's ground, Barrows Farm Stadium, between 11am and 8pm.
The centre would be based in premises currently left unused by Pitney Bowes and Glaxo-SmithKline. All the existing outbuildings would be redeveloped and the centre would service Poundland's stores UK wide.
A planning application is set to be submitted in the next few months and, if approved, the centre could be open as soon as 2014. It comes just days after Tesco announced it plans to close its distribution centre in the town, resulting in the loss of more than 800 jobs.
Ian Hudson from the Chamber of Commerce in Harlow has told Heart it would be a welcome development: "We've had quite a bit of bad news recently with Comet's distribution centre (closing) and Tesco's announcement, so it's really good another company thinks Harlow is a good place to have a distribution centre in.
"We obviously believe it is, close to the M11, very near Stansted Airport, easy reach of London and Cambridge. In our view as a Chamber of Commerce Harlow is the perfect place for distribution centres of this size."
He also said he believes this could be the first of many businesses to come to the town: "These things tend to take on a bit of a 'follow-me' situation, so I think companies seeing Poundland will be here hopefully in 2014 will be encouraged to look more closely at Harlow for this sort of centre.
"We want to tell the world we have the space and we have the know-how to operate that kind of facility, other companies wanting to do something similar really should be looking at Harlow for distribution centres."
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