MORE than 800 jobs are set to be created in Cwmbran, through plans for a major redevelopment of the town’s Arvin Meritor site, the Argus can exclusively reveal today.

Supermarket giant Morrisons and Meritor, which runs its brake business at the site east of the town centre, have announced plans for a supermarket, offices, an hotel, and a comprehensive refurbishment of the existing factory, that intends to create a total of 840 jobs.

The Argus revealed last month that Meritor had submitted a planning application to Torfaen council for the project, on Grange Road, and now details have been announced.

The include a new 37,000 sq ft Morrisons store, with a petrol station and 500-space car park, which will include short stay spaces for town centre shoppers to use.

A new ‘civic square’ will be created, and as well as a range of highway improvements to support the project, there will also be new pedestrian links to the railway station and the town centre, including a link bridge over St David’s Road to the existing leisure complex.

The supermarket is likely to create 350 jobs and up to 340 more are predicted for the offices and hotel.

The Meritor Heavy Braking Systems plant currently employs 387 people and it is hoped the redevelopment will bring in extra jobs to the factory, although numbers for this are not yet known.

The Argus revealed in April 2009 that Morrisons was interested in part of the huge Meritor site, and the companies have spent the intervening period preparing the application.

The council is expected to consider the development in the summer and if councillors give it the go-ahead, work could start as early as the autumn.

Morrisons’ development executive Mark Thompson said: “We are looking forward to helping revitalise Cwmbran and secure the future operations of Meritor, protecting valuable local jobs.”

Meritor’s director of product development, Richard Thompson, said: “We are committed to the project and look forward to not only creating new job opportunities, but helping to bring this sustainable regeneration opportunity to the area.”

The project focuses on the north end of the Meritor site and will be a major stimulus for developing the area east of the town centre, which is considered vital to the economic prosperity and future regeneration of the whole of Cwmbran.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Development is a catalyst

WE WELCOME the ambitious development plan for Cwmbran which is poised to bring much-needed jobs to the area.

And given that this exciting proposal for part of the ArvinMeritor site will also help secure hundreds of jobs at what is a valuable local employer, it is doubly attractive.

This development of new supermarket, offices and a hotel will, in our view, act as the catalyst for further investment in this part of Cwmbran, which in the current economic climate is not something to be easily dismissed.

This is a great opportunity, not just for Cwmbran but for the wider local economy.

The redevelopment will bring with it an estimated 800 jobs and will help support the existing 387 jobs at the Meritor brake business which occupies part of the land.

It was last month that Meritor submitted a planning application to Torfaen council for the project on land it owns at Grange Road, Cwmbran.

Now it is revealed that supermarket giant Morrisons, who expressed an interest in the site two years ago, is committed to building a new store on the site, which will also include offices, a hotel and improved links to the railway station and town centre.

Torfaen council will not consider the proposals until the summer, so the whole process is still in the fairly early stages.

But at the very least it illustrates a certain level of confidence in the local economy which has to be welcome.