UP TO 70 new jobs could be created in Dursley if plans to build nine new commercial units at a £150million development are given the go ahead.

St Modwen, which is developing the Littlecombe site in partnership with Stroud District Council, has submitted a new application for the units which would total an additional 18,350sq ft in space for businesses and could create as many as 70 jobs.

Littlecombe Business Park is home to 11 businesses and the nine new units would be offered for sale or rent in the autumn providing planning permission is secured.

Adjacent to Vale Community Hospital, the half-hectare site is planned due to high demand for business space in the area.

Pete Davies, senior development manager for St Modwen in the South West, said: “Demand for good quality commercial space in Gloucestershire, as with much of the South West, remains buoyant and we are accelerating our speculative building across the region this year to satisfy market demand and attract more inward investment and jobs to the area.”

The application has received the backing of Dursley Town Council after it chose to support the plans at a meeting last month.

It has also been welcomed by district councillor and business owner Doina Cornell, who said that it was important that the Littlecombe development was “wholly residential”.

“There is definitely the demand for business units in the town – particularly smaller spaces. Whilst there is some office space in the town, there are not enough spaces like this for businesses so it’s good news.

“From a Stroud District Council point of view the development should pay for itself in the near future and is a worthwhile investment.

“More jobs will also be created and this has always been the intention that, in place of Lister’s, the development is not wholly residential.”

Plans were submitted to Stroud District Council for the expansion of Littlecombe Business Park at the end of last year with a decision made in the coming weeks.

The nine units that would be provided at the site should planning permission be granted would vary in size from 1,300 sq ft up to 8,600 sq ft.