Huge multi-million pound hub creating hundreds of new Wigan jobs given final sign-off

After gaining approval from the planning committee at Wigan Town Hall back in September, J Murphy and Sons have now had all the Is dotted and Ts crossed by the local authority.

The new work hub and 26-home housing development is estimated to provide 213 additional jobs to the area.

J Murphy and Sons have operated from their Wigan Road base since 1969 and this new plan would see a new "state-of-the-art hub” operate for “at least” the next 50 years.

The proposal includes an office building, workshops, yard and open storage as well as new vehicular accesses and car parking. As part of the plans, the existing buildings will be demolished and transformed into a 26-home development backing onto a new public greenspace.

Dubbed the “One Murphy Hub”, it represents more than a £40m investment in Wigan and the local community – consolidating three Murphy sites into one. The specialist engineering and construction company believe that the delivery of further opportunities and vital training for local people outweighs harm to the green belt this development would cause.

In autumn chief executive John Murphy told the planning committee the new public greenspace would provide 4.7 hectares of publicly accessible, ecologically rich, open space and more than 1km of paths with the inclusion of wetland.

The end of December marked when official approval was submitted in writing by the council following the creation of a list of planning conditions, which means work on the site can begin.