500 jobs at Amazon's Dunstable distribution centre
Five hundred permanent jobs are to be created at a new Amazon distribution centre in Bedfordshire.
The internet giant said it would open the 310,000-sq-ft Dunstable site in the autumn.
Central Bedfordshire councillor Nigel Young said it was an "important milestone" in the area's regeneration.
The centre, at Prologis Park in Boscombe Road, will be the company's ninth in the UK, and the second in the East of England.
Councillor Young said the new centre would benefit from local transport improvements which form part of the Conservative-led authority's wider regeneration efforts.
Amazon in the UK
- Amazon said it had invested over £1 billion in its UK Operations to date
- The company has eight similar centres in Doncaster, Dunfermline, Gourock, Hemel Hempstead, Marston Gate, Peterborough, Rugeley and Swansea Bay
- More than 7,000 permanent employees work at these centres
- The firm launched its US .com business in July 1995
Amazon's UK operations director John Tagawa said the firm looked forward to the new site playing an "integral role" in the business.
"Over the last two years, we have added well in excess of 2,000 new employees to our UK workforce and we are delighted to be able to create a further 500 permanent jobs at our new Dunstable centre."