One of the top 10 biggest employers in the Forest of Dean parliamentary constituency has seen its bid to extend its Maisemore base approved by planners.

Complete Utilities, who employ 320 people from their base at Overton Farm, have received consent from Tewkesbury Borough Council to change the use of the site to a utilities depot.

The company, who provide civil engineering services for the communications and power sectors, have been at Overton Farm for nearly 15 years.

In that time, they have become a significant player in the sector civil engineering and communications sector and the workforce has risen from 55 to 320.

They are currently delivering Gigaclear and Fastershare, a cross-county partnership between Gloucestershire and Herefordshire county councils to install ultra-fast fibre broadband.

The approved proposal will see a 696 square metre maintenance building erected on the site to allow the service of the company's vehicles and plant.

The new building, which is to the south of the site will lead to two new jobs being created and allow the new and existing staff to work in safety and indoors.

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The application also allows for the retention of some modular office buildings to increase the available office space due to the increase of staff based at the site.

A previous planning application saw a Dutch barn on the site converted into office space, but while that is now complete and working, the company's success has meant more space is needed.

In the supporting information to the application, the company said it expects to continue growing, with an extra 180 employees taken on in the next two years.

It said:"Since the original permission was granted at Overton, Complete Utilities has grown significantly and now makes a substantial contribution to the local economy.

"This is reflected by the fact that Complete Utilities is a major local employer with over 320 employees with further growth to over 500 expected in the next 18 months to two years.

"In addition to the direct employment, Complete Utilities supports over 150 businesses locally.

"The work the company undertakes, essential network maintenance and line up-grading, as well as expanding new infrastructure network, is critical to local communities and businesses."