A LEADING Carlisle councillor has welcomed the news that internet retail giants Amazon are to create more than 100 jobs in Cumbria.

Amazon has reported significant increases in revenues since the coronavirus outbreak, with many shifting their shopping habits from the high street to online.

The firm opened its 7,000 sq metre delivery station on Woodlands Industrial Storage Estate on the outskirts of Longtown in June, initially creating 20 permanent jobs working with a network of 100 drivers.

Amazon has now confirmed to The Cumberland News it will double the number of staff at its site to 40 by the end of the year, as well as creating 100 seasonal jobs in the area.

Packages destined for Amazon customers are shipped to the Longtown delivery station from Amazon fulfilment and sorting centres, where they are then delivered to customers.

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The news comes as it was revealed that the online retailer is to create 7,000 new jobs in the coming months at its warehouses and other sites across the UK. The increase will take the company’s total permanent UK workforce to more than 40,000.

Amazon said the new roles, include engineers, graduates, human resources, IT, health and safety and finance specialists, as well as the teams who will pick, pack and ship customer orders, will help it meet growing customer demand.

Gareth Ellis, deputy leader of Carlisle City Council and portfolio holder for finance, governance and resources has welcomed the news about the new jobs at Amazon’s site near Longtown.

“I think it’s great news for the city,” explained Mr Ellis.

“It is obviously a sign that they want to grow their business here. We have seen what happened with Covid, it has changed things and we’ve seen a lot of business move online.

“People were slowly moving online before coronavirus but they are doing it more now. It has created more demand so it is great we are getting some of that investment back into the Carlisle area.

“It is great to have new jobs, particularly when we are entering a hard time when we will see much higher than usual levels of unemployment.”

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Mr Ellis believes that the challenges already facing the high street have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

“The high street is going through a bit of a change that was happening before, Covid has just accelerated that change.

“You have Debenhams asking not to pay rents and business rates and John Lewis closing stores. We are seeing a lot of the larger stores closing.

“That is as a result of people using the option to shop online. No one is forcing them to do that but sometimes it is cheaper and sometimes it is more convenient.”

The council is looking at ways of drawing more people into the city centre, according to Mr Ellis. “What we can do is encourage people into the city centre.”