A property developer is planning to create a huge 68-acre "super centre" for a used car dealer at a site between Bury St Edmunds and Diss.

Jaynic has snapped up 91 acres at the former RAF Airfield at Shepherd’s Grove near Stanton on the A143 and plans to create a storage and distribution centre for vehicle remarketing and recycling giant Copart which would create up to 120 jobs.

The development company - which bought the site from Property Recycling Group plc - has taken on an existing contract to sell a large portion of the land to Copart so that it can launch what would be its largest vehicle storage and processing centre site.

Copart has 16 other sites around the country and is the largest UK business in its sector, shifting more than half a million vehicles a year, and remarketing vehicles on behalf of the insurance sector, fleet, lease and hire companies.

The Copart Suffolk centre aims to create a workforce of between 100 and 120 including management and supervisory jobs, engineers, office staff and drivers.

West Suffolk Council has adopted a masterplan for the site which includes up to 400 homes - but the developer says it is now pursuing a 100% commercial development, with no residential uses.

The plan includes creating a new roundabout on the A143 and a link road to the existing Shepherd’s Grove West industrial site which would divert HGV vehicles which currently go through the village of Stanton so that they enter and exit directly onto the A143.

Jaynic, which was founded by Nic Rumsey and is based in Bury St Edmunds and Berkshire, claims the new roundabout will slow traffic coming in and out of the village considerably - and make the junction on to the A143 from Hepworth "much safer". It also claims that traffic volumes will be much reduced from those that would be generated by a new housing estate.


Plans also include landscaping, planting to meet Bio-diversity Net Gain requirements and a further 10 acres of commercial land split over four plots in addition to the Copart scheme.

It says it will present its proposals in detail to Stanton and Hepworth Parish Councils before holding a public exhibition, with a view to submitting a planning application in early 2022.

Savills agreed the deal with Copart and is the agent for the remaining development land along with Hazells.