Hundreds of new jobs will be created by the arrival of a Sainsbury’s distribution centre in North Warwickshire.

The supermarket chain is setting up on the Hams Hall site and will create 700 jobs on site with another 650 ancillary employees.

The centre will serve the whole Midlands and is close to the Castle Vale store, on the edge of Solihull which has just opened, and is one of Sainsbury’s largest sites.

A Sainsbury’s spokesman explained the company was one of the bidders for the Hams Hall site marketed by Advantage West Midlands, the government agency for the region.

Sainsbury’s was successful in its efforts for the 68-acre plot, and aims to put a 700,000 sq ft distribution centre on site.

It will now approach North Warwickshire Borough Council for planning permission and could be on-site at the end of this year. It will take 12 months to complete the work, so the earliest opening date would be the end of 2001.

It is part of the creation 3,000 new jobs across the West Midlands by Sainsburys with its Hams Hall bases and new stores across the region. But the company could not confirm today any new sites across Coventry and Warwickshire.

Both the Rugby and Leamington stores are currently undergoing extensions which should boost the size of both of them by 50 per cent.

A Sainsbury’s spokesman said of the Hams Hall site:

“There will be jobs in the warehouse as IT and the handling of goods. There will be a broad base of jobs open to people.

“This is an excellent location right at the centre of the country for us and we look forward to working with the North Warwickshire local authority.”

The former power station site is already the based for a freight depot with a rail link and other industrial uses as part of a regeneration of the site.

Mike O’Brien, MP for North Warwickshire, said:

“This shows that Hams Hall is recognized as a major site for business and economic growth in North Warwickshire and West Midlands.

“I welcome the investment and creation of these jobs.”