Forty new jobs could be provided with the construction of four new warehouses at a Suffolk business park where even bigger expansion plans are under consideration.

Roger Skinner Holdings Ltd has submitted the plans for Carlton Park Industrial Estate at Kelsale-cum-Carlton to East Suffolk Council.

In March, the company asked the council for an initial view on proposals for 11 additional warehouses, with a restaurant, for the site off Main Road - which could provide as many as 100 jobs, depending on the occupiers.

Council planning officers have given a favourable response and it may now lead to a full planning application.

Meanwhile, the four warehouses on an acre of land will be dealt with first by the planners.

In a report, Wilkinson Planning, on behalf of Roger Skinner Holdings, said the warehouses will range from 372 sq m to 557 sq m.

It said: "The site carries good employment potential which is yet to be fully unlocked. A viable scheme is now proposed, which would generate good commercial benefits locally attracting regional custom from the wider area.

"Detailed discussions and headline agreements are in place with three nationally recognised commercial trade operators, whose core business is intrinsically supportive of the local and regional area.

"Carlton Park is a confirmed and preferred location. There is a strong demand for the B8 space provided through the proposal with trade counter service, and the applicant has advanced terms of agreement with these prospective commercial occupants.

"There is therefore a clear and defining need which should be considered favourably in conjunction with the wider commercial vision of the plan area.

"The applicant is a reputable landowner and developer with a proven track record of delivering first class developments (including commercial) as proposed here. Prospective occupants of the units are also well established. The locality would improve as a result of a fully functioning commercial site in a prime commercial location."

Other documents submitted with the application say the project will create 40 new jobs.

The larger development would take up six acres of the 20-acre industrial estate, which has been established for the last 30 years, and feature 11 commercial units ranging in size from 110sq m to 1,380sq m - totalling nearly 5,000sq m.

They would be designed to attract a range of uses, including offices, light industrial, and storage and distribution, plus a restaurant or café.