JCB CEO Alan Blake (foreground) pictured at JCB's new logistics hub in Newcastle, Staffordshire. Looking on in the background (from left to right) are: Steve Holland, of the Homes & Communities Agency; Neale Clifton, of Newcastle Borough Council; Hugh Chesterton, of Gazeley; Councillor Gareth Snell, Leader of Newcastle Borough Council; Alan Thomson, JCB Group Director - Non Production; Councillor John Taylor and Joannes Van Osta, JCB General Manager - Group Transport & Logistics. 

JCB have announced plans to open a new facility in North Staffordshire in a move which will create hundreds of new jobs.

The company - which currently has 11 plants in the UK and 11 overseas and is the world’s third largest manufacturer of construction equipment - is creating a new logistics hub on land next to the A500 in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

The facility will open in the environmentally-friendly Blue Planet warehouse on the Chatterley Valley site. JCB has agreed a long-term lease for the building and has been conditionally offered £2.9 million from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund to support job creation on the site and to provide training programmes. In addition, the company has also signed an option to purchase an adjacent 7.7 acres of land from Newcastle Borough Council to facilitate future expansion.

The distribution hub will be commissioned this month and by the end of the year will employ around 60 people. Employment levels are expected to rise to more than 300 people once the facility becomes fully operational in the next two years.

JCB CEO Alan Blake said, “Staffordshire is where JCB’s business started nearly 68 years ago and I’m delighted that our latest expansion is creating jobs in the county which has been our home for so long. Staffordshire is a fantastic place to do business and this site offers some huge advantages for JCB, particularly with transport links to the A500 and M6.

“We are delighted to have been offered funding from the Regional Growth Fund to facilitate future growth on the site. We also thank Newcastle Borough Council for their support in reaching what is another milestone in JCB’s commitment to Staffordshire.”

The facility - which will be branded JCB - will be the central receiving hub for supplier-bought components used in the manufacture and assembly of JCB machines. It will serve JCB’s UK plants as well as JCB’s compaction equipment factory in Germany and JCB’s newest manufacturing facility in Brazil.