Days after Jaguar Land Rover reported global sales up 6.5% in 2017, it has made two more property decisions. For the Midlands, it is good news and bad news.

The good news is that Stafford Borough Council planners have approved a 52-acre JLR car-storage facility developed by Birmingham-based Stoford at Stone Business Park. The £40M secure site will hold around 6,500 vehicles.

“It is clear that this development will bring significant inward investment into the county and will represent a major commitment to the region by one of the world’s leading luxury car makers," Stoford Director Tony Nash said.

The bad news is that JLR is taking a 90K SF software engineering centre to Shannon Free Zone, close to Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland, chosing Ireland rather than a Midlands location.

The Shannon Free Zone buildings have been newly developed by Shannon Commercial Property, as part of a €40M first phase at the site. The unit will be to advance JLR's self-drive technologies.