obs drive at Perry Barr car sales site

HUNDREDS of jobs will be created after planning chiefs gave the go-ahead for a former container base to become a huge vehicle sales site.

British Car Auctions Ltd was given permission yesterday by Birmingham City Council to transform the old P&O site in College Road, Perry Barr, into a car auction facility.

The "leading vehicle auction company in Europe" will create in the region of 262 jobs, the council's planning department said.

Permission had previously been refused on the basis that land earmarked for industrial use would be lost, but in the current economic climate the potential for 262 new jobs – compared to 163 under previous plans – at a redundant site has swayed opinion.

The vast 20-acre site will be home to 2,500 vehicles at any one time, with spaces for customers' and staff cars, and vehicles involved in sales.

Birmingham City Council planning officer, Nicholas Jackson said: "In spite of the loss of industrial land, Planning Strategy believed there were strong grounds to support the proposal.

"This is due to the level of new job creation, coupled with the immediacy of likely implementation."

Despite the number of vehicle trips to the former container depot increasing compared to its previous use, the number of heavy goods vehicles accessing the site would be "significantly reduced" the planning officer said.

The auction site would operate between 7am and 9pm, Monday to Friday, and 7am until 2pm on Saturday.

It would be closed on Sunday.

Oscott ward councillor, Keith Linnecor, who sits on the planning committee, has requested that, where possible, jobs are created for local people.