Jaguar Land Rover plans massive expansion in UK

Jaguar Land Rover is set to announce another huge job-boosting investment in the UK's West Midlands. The car giant owned by India's Tata Motors is set to invest about £500 million on a 30-acre site in Coventry.

The giant scheme comes less than 12 months after JLR revealed a £450-million investment in Castle Bromwich – and soon after announcing record UK car sales.

The proposals are for a scheme on Gateway North, next to Coventry Airport on the A45, and is expected to deliver a double boost with a further 30 acres earmarked for JLR suppliers.

Progress in the next phase of the expansion had been held up by problems connecting the two sides of the A45, but mammoth plans are due to be announced this week which would see a £35 million bridge built over the A45 between the two sites.

Phase two of JLR's plans is the purchase of the Gateway North site, which will house thousands of staff, mainly to do with the company's back office functions. Administrative jobs at Whitley are also set to move to the site.

That will free up capacity at its Whitley headquarters, where hundreds of research and development jobs are set to be created.

Phase three
The company is reported to already be in talks about a third phase, which involves buying land around the rugby fields north of the A45, currently owned by Henry VIII school.

Plans for that site could create thousands more research and development jobs in the city, it is claimed.

Phases two and three involve land currently designated as green belt, meaning any planning applications would have to be referred to central government and demonstrate ''very special circumstances'' in order for permission to be granted.

But the Gateway North site is already lined up to lose its green belt status in Warwick District Council's new local plan.

The fourth phase is understood to be bringing a car factory brought to the city.

Sources claim the company would look to produce 250,000 vehicles at the site with the most likely candidate being the new Land Rover Defender.

However, the company is also understood to be keen to enhance its electric vehicle offering and a site in Coventry could provide the answer.

If the fourth phase comes to fruition, it will be the first time JLR has mass produced vehicles in the city since closing down its Brown's Lane plant in 2005.