THE first phase of Somerset’s new £4bn gigafactory could begin to take shape before Christmas if plans are successfully approved.

Agratas announced in late-February that it would be investing heavily in the Gravity enterprise zone, between Puriton and Woolavington, creating up to 4,000 well-paid jobs and delivering one of the largest single employment sites in the whole of Somerset.

The facility, which is expected to be up and running by 2026, will provide electric vehicle batteries for Jaguar Land Rover, and could eventually provide up to 40 per cent of all electric vehicle batteries for the UK domestic market.

Construction firm McAlpine was awarded the contract in late-July for the pre-construction work on the former Royal Ordnance Factory site, with its staff hard at work at the site’s south-western corner.

Agratas has now formally submitted plans for the prosaically named ‘Building One’, which will form the first phase of the new complex – with a decision expected from Somerset Council before Christmas.

The entire Gravity enterprise zone has been subject to a local development order (LDO) since December 2021, in a bid to speed up the delivery of any investment within the site.

An LDO grants planning permission for development which is suitable for a given parcel of land within a large site. As long as Building One is considered to be compliant with the, LDO it can be built.

Under the phase one proposals, building one will be constructed at the western edge of the site, with large amounts of car parking being provided around it.