Plans have been unanimously approved for a new state-of-the-art national storage and distribution centre in Staffordshire on behalf of the UK’s leading pet care business, Pets at Home.

Stoford Developments will deliver a purpose-built warehouse unit on a 52-acre site at Stafford North Business Park, close to Jct 14 of the M6.

The development will deliver a gross internal floor area of 670,000 sq ft, and also offers an additional 100,000 sq ft of expansion land available if required.

A new roundabout will also be created on the A34 at Redhill, north of Stafford, to serve the site.

Pets at Home has signed a 20-year conditional agreement for lease on the development, which is expected to employ more than 800 people and will open in 2022.

Stoford Joint Managing Director, Dan Gallagher, said: “We’re very pleased to have received unanimous approval for the development of this exciting scheme. We have worked closely with Pets at Home to deliver a modern, first-class design that has the potential to become one of Staffordshire’s key employment sites. This development will bring £120 million of investment into the borough and will make a valuable contribution in sustaining jobs in the region.”

Stoford has a successful track record of major development and regeneration projects spanning industrial and distribution warehousing sites, production plants, business parks, offices, retail schemes and hotels. The award-winning developer has completed commercial developments of more than 14 million sq ft with a value of over £1 billion.