West Berkshire Council granted outline planning permission for the scheme, which will include the warehouse, ancillary office floorspace, as well as an aircraft museum building and associated access, car parking and landscaping last week.

The controversial scheme, which was vociferously opposed by locals, will allow the logistics company to stay in the area where it was founded. Last year

Walker Logistics, reported a 317 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of e-commerce orders picked, packed and dispatched at its 250,000 ft2 logistics hub in Berkshire during the fourth quarter of 2020.

According to Charlie Walker, Walker Logistics’ head of marketing, the upturn in activity not only reflects the general increase in online shopping across the country throughout the Covid pandemic, but is also due to the fact that Walker added a number of important new accounts to its client base throughout the year.

To keep pace with the order throughput hike Walker has increased the size of its workforce by more than 20 per cent since September of last year.