AMAZON has celebrated the opening of its "state-of-the-art sortation centre" at the M6 Major site in Haydock.

The online retail giant is operating in one of two distribution and industrial warehouses at the site, which was built on green belt land in Haydock, north of Florida Farm on Slag Lane.

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The centre will sort parcels received from Amazon’s fulfilment centres before they are transported to delivery stations, where they are collected by drivers and taken to customers, creating an initial 250 jobs.

Seasonal and temporary recruitment at peak times, such as at Christmas, is expected to swell the number of people working there and it is understood the site has the capability to employ between 800 and 1,000 workers if demand grows.

However, the number of jobs created at the unit, at least initially, is significantly less than the 1,000 touted by developers at planning meetings, a figure which was greeted with much cynicism by residents who campaigned against the green belt development scheme.

Amazon says it hopes to "expand as business allows".

St Helens Star:

The outside of the Amazon unit during construction

Mark Yates, site leader for Amazon in Haydock, said: "The new state-of-the art Amazon sortation centre in Haydock, St Helens successfully launched.

"The site celebrated the arrival of the new team with fun activities including decorating a banner, sharing food and sweets and capturing moments with a selfie station."

A second unit, which secured planning approval for 48,634 squared metre of commercial/industrial building, has also been constructed.

However, so far an occupier has not been announced for the development.