EAST Lancashire road haulage giant Fagan and Whalley is to expand with a multi-million pound development on Burnley Bridge business park creating at least 25 new jobs.

The Padiham-based transport form is to build a 92,000 square foot distribution hub on a 10-acre site at the complex near the M65’s Junction Nine.

It will provide parking for up to 80 trailers, with 10 loading bays and 25,000 pallet locations.

The new development will complement the family-run firm’s existing headquarters Shuttleworth Mead Business Park and satellite centre in Coventry which together employ 300 staff.

Along with the creation of an initial 25 jobs initially it will significantly increase Fagan & Whalley’s warehousing capacity by next summer.

Fagan and Whalley is taking the final plot of Phase One on the scheme developed by Leeds-based Eshton Ltd.

Standing at 19 metres high, the building will be the second largest on the 70-acre site, which has just two units remaining.

Last month a £7million-plus 543,620 sq ft unit was handed over to Altham-based IT distributor Exertis creating 300 new jobs.

A planning application for the transport hub was approved by Burnley Council in June with construction due to start in September and expected to take 36 weeks.

Burnley council leader CLlr Mark Townsend said: “I am absolutely delighted at this news.

“It shows how Burnley is a growing destination for business investment.”

Stephen Fagan, commercial director at Fagan and Whalley, said: “There is a distinct lack of suitable accommodation on the M65 corridor and Burnley Bridge offered exactly what we wanted.

“It has the added bonus of being just one junction down the motorway from our headquarters and remains at the heart of our customer base.

“We’re looking forward to getting underway with the build so we can commence operations in the middle of 2017.”

James Chapman, managing director at Eshton, said: “Fagan and Whalley are a highly reputable company and we are delighted that they have chosen to site their major distribution facility at Burnley Bridge.”.

“The development is one we are particularly proud of and we’re thrilled the scheme is almost full.

Burnley Bridge Business Park is a £50 million development near Hapton providing modern industrial and warehousing accommodation creating 1,400 jobs.