THE opening of a new supermarket in Colchester is to take more than 200 north Essex residents off benefits and into gainful employment.

The site of the new Sainsbury’s store off London Road measures more than 140,000 sq ft, making it one of the largest in the country.

When it officially opens on Wednesday, December 1, a total of 230 of the people working there will be either re-entering work or new to the jobs market.

In all, only 5 per cent of those taking one of the 243 new jobs created – 75 are temporary – will have left other jobs to start there.

So Nigel Warren, north and mid Essex account manager at Jobcentre Plus, is understandably delighted at the reduction in local unemployment, particularly as many of the recruits have been without a job for some time.

Twenty-six of the new intake have either been long-term unemployed or are aged between 18 and 24, and had never had a job before.

Mr Warren said: “Sainsbury’s has been very supportive of people who have been out of the labour market.

“Some of these people did have some significant health problems to overcome to return to work.

“People who have been out of work for some time face more challenges in re-entering the labour market.

“Thirty-four people went through the training courses. All were from Jobcentre Plus, and they all had work trials within the store.

“Sainsbury’s decided to hire 26 from those trials on a permanent basis.

“Through the work trials we have been able to assist them back into employment.”

When Sainsbury’s won planning permission to move to a large site on the edge of Tollgate, as usual they signed a “section 106” planning agreement.

While most planning agreements commit developers to providing infrastructure or community facilities, such as new road junctions or areas of public open space, this one featured a deal on unemployment.

Jim Leask, a senior enterprise officer at Colchester Council, said: “It’s a bit of a novelty.

“We are the only authority in Essex to have actually made this kind of initiative a part of the planning conditions.”

With most of the new employees coming from Colchester borough, the vogue for low carbon footprints has also been achieved.

The new staff are working at Sainsbury’s existing Tollgate store and will be transferring to its replacement.

Posts they will be taking on include roles in the new superstore’s on-site cafe, in an expanded fresh food kitchen, on the new pizza counter and on some of the 52 checkouts.

John Priest, who is to manage the store, said: “We’re absolutely delighted with the colleagues who came through that way.

“I think the vast majority are delighted to be in a job and working for Sainsbury’s.”