UP TO 40 jobs will be created now planning permission has been granted for six new stores on a former colliery site.

Developer St Modwen has begun marketing a terrace of six retail units which will make up part of its Norton Park District Centre, on the Trentham Lakes development.

It hopes to begin work later this year so occupiers can begin trading by next summer.

The Sentinel reported yesterday that work on a controversial Aldi store nearby is expected to begin next month and there will also be a Marstons pub as part of plans for a community hub.

St Modwen's development manager Euan Lindsay said there has already been interest in the units, which range in size from 1,000 sq ft to 4,000 sq ft.

He said: "There has already been a number of enquiries for the units. One was a convenience store and there has also been a hot food provision and a hairdressers.

"We want to create a broad range of resources for the neighbouring area so it is a useful local facility."

The eight-acre district centre sits within St Modwen's Norton Park development, which has been designed as a new community comprising 700 homes, a local centre and 50 acres of open space.

Bryan Carnes, chief executive of the North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said he had been impressed with work to create a jobs and homes on the former Norton Colliery site.

He said: "The way St Modwen has developed the former colliery is exemplary. There has been a lot of jobs created there, when people were very speculative at the start."