Aldi to open 100 stores in next two years
German discounter Aldi is sticking with bricks and mortar expansion plans aiming to open another 100 stores across the UK over the next two years.
The group, which is now the fifth biggest supermarket operator in the UK, will also expand its logistics infrastructure, including a new 1.3m sq ft site in Leicestershire, as part of a £1.3bn spend.
Work will start on the £100m national distribution centre project early next year with Birmingham warehouse specialist DSP Construction Management tipped for the project.
Aldi has been given the go-ahead to build a vast new warehouse on a 72 acre site at Nailstone Colliery in Coalville
The supermarket, which has over 920 UK stores, will also trial a new Aldi checkout-free concept store in Greenwich, London.
This will use a system of cameras, sensors and artificial intelligence to identify the items customers take from shelves, avouding the need to go through a checkout.
In its annual trading update, Aldi said sales in the UK and Ireland had grown 10.2% to a record £13.5bn last year while profit dipped 2.5% to £265m.
Giles Hurley, Chief Executive Officer for Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “As well as delivering record sales last year, we continued to invest for growth, deploying over £600m in stores and distribution centres across the UK. This helped to create thousands of much-needed jobs and support for British farmers and manufacturers.”
Plan to build two major prisons at RAF base in Essex
The Ministry of Justice has unveiled plans to build two new prisons on land around an RAF air base in Essex.
New Category B and C prisons, each containing 1,715 inmates, are being proposed to be built at Wethersfield air base in Braintree.
They will each follow the new standardised designs, consisting of seven separate house blocks each rising to four floors with 240 inmates in each block.
Each prison will also have support buildings. These will include a reception area, kitchens, workshops, a visits hall and offices.
Wethersfield air base double prison plan
In local community consultation papers, newly-appointed prisons minister Victoria Atkins said: “We believe that, following detailed feasibility work, land next to Wethersfield air base would be a good location for two new prisons as part of the prison estates strategy.
“Our plans, if successful, would bring many benefits to the local community, such as hundreds of jobs during construction, careers within the prison sector and an increased spend in local businesses.”
If a decision is taken to proceed, planning permission will be sought next year.
The Government has committed to creating 18,000 additional prison places by the mid-2020s’, through a combination of building new prisons, as well as extending, refurbishing and maintaining existing prisons.
Four are planned as part of the Ministry of Justice’s £1bn New Prisons Programme.
These will be delivered by a framework of preselected contractors: ISG, Kier, Laing O’Rourke and Wates.
Earlier this month, MoJ submitted plans for a major new prison in Lancashire adjacent to HMP Garth and HMP Wymott near the town of Leyland.
Other prisons in the pipeline include Full Sutton, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, another new category c prison planned on land adjacent to HMP Grendon and HMP Springhill in Buckinghamshire.
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Trafficking gang arrested and 55 builders safeguarded
Met Police and officers in Romania arrested 13 men on Tuesday morning in a series of raids as part of a major investigation into human trafficking.
Following the raids 54 men and one male juvenile have been safeguarded
The investigation was launched by detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command in August 2019 after intelligence highlighted a Romanian organised crime group (OCG) operating between Romania and the UK.
Romanian adult nationals have been recruited and trafficked to the Kingsbury area of north London to work on building sites as unskilled labourers.
Four warrants were executed in Harrow and Brent. Cash and a firearm were also seized.
The males were found housed in multi-occupancy addresses with mattresses covering the whole floor space. Occupants were found sleeping in extremely cramped conditions. They are now receiving support from specialist officers.
Eight men have been arrested in London for human trafficking. They have been taken to a north London police station.
A further five men were arrested in Romania where gold and around 250,000 Euros were seized from the OCG.
Those arrested are aged between 22 and 49 years old. They have been arrested for a variety of offences, including causing another to complete forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking contrary to the modern slavery act 2015.
Detective Constable Dec Wilson, from Central Specialist Crime, said: “These arrests in the UK and abroad are the result of working closely with our partners in Romania for the past 18 months, to identify those involved in the human trafficking and labour exploitation.
“This Eurojust Joint Investigation Team should serve as a warning to other organised crime networks that the Met is committed to working with international law enforcement to target those committing modern day slavery offences in London.
“We need the public’s help as they have an important role to play in recognising and reporting modern slavery. If you suspect someone may be a victim of modern slavery, report it. You will always be taken seriously, and protection and support is available.
“Often those affected do not see themselves as potential victims of labour exploitation and many will have been coerced into this life to make money for an organised crime network.
“We believe there are victims of modern slavery in every borough across London and the public may encounter them every day, possibly without realising.
“As well as being exploited for labour, victims have been found working in construction, domestic servitude, agriculture, cannabis factories and in places you use yourself, such as car washes, barbers and nail bars.”
Police said their enquiries are continuing.
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