PLANS have been submitted to complete the development of a Widnes transport hub that could create 2,000 jobs.

Transport group Stobart, which operates a road, rail and sea hub at the site, has delivered its masterplan for the remaining 1.4m sq ft of land to Halton Council.

A similar plan delivered a chilled warehousing and distribution centre for Tesco, which led to 1,000 jobs for the supermarket giant and 200 extra drivers at Stobart.

Ben Whawell, Stobart chief financial officer, said the latest proposal for warehousing, distribution, and a biomass fuel plant on the site, could generate up to 2,000 more jobs.

“We want to develop that site out in full,” he said. “We won’t build speculatively, but we are talking to a number of people at the moment.”

He added a feasibility study is also under way to develop the neighbouring port operation at Runcorn as a bulk handler of timber to be converted into fuel at its biomass plants.

A national training centre for Stobart truck drivers has also opened at Widnes, capable of handling up to 700 drivers and apprentices a year.