West Yorkshire’s largest out-of-town retail park could be getting even bigger.

More plans have been lodged to expand the huge J27 retail area, off the M62 at Birstall.

Just four months after proposals to build a £40m extension featuring eight new units adjacent to DW Sports and Fitness were revealed, a second plan to construct a further four large units next to the Showcase De-Luxe cinema have been unveiled.

The eight unit plan on land opposite Screwfix has yet to be decided by Kirklees Council planners.

But developers have deemed the popular shopping zone as ripe for more expansion, after it generated an incredible £1.6bn in sales in 2016, which is forecast to rise to more than £2.7bn by 2031.

The busy shopping area, home to Ikea and a range of UK chains and restaurants, is technically two retail parks – the Birstall Shopping Park and the J27 Retail Park.

The Birstall Retail Park
The Birstall Retail Park

With easy access from the motorway and major A-roads, it has been a huge success with the car parks and roads often bursting at the seams.

The brands or names of retailers for the latest proposal have not been revealed, but documents submitted to Kirklees Council show the four premises would be shops and not restaurants or entertainment.

The applicant’s paperwork says a proposal to create a Sports Direct including an Everlast Gym appear to be off, and the current application will be for “comparison goods retailing with an element of convenience goods space”, creating 96 jobs in the process.

The move to add more shopping comes after the Centre 27 Business Park section of the huge site was deemed to have failed.

Six of the nine buildings have already been demolished amid struggles to rent them out and claims of structural problems.

Two more are set to be flattened soon.

Just one of the nine small blocks of offices off Bankwood Way, next to the cinema, will remain because the tenants have purchased their lease.

The Centre 27 Business Park at Birstall, next to Showcase Cinema, has been demolished
The Centre 27 Business Park at Birstall, next to Showcase Cinema, has been demolished

The latest plan sees the developers admit that they could add another 300 vehicles onto the congested A62 Gelderd Road area, on the fringe of Kirklees.

The junction of the A62 with Woodhead Road, the main roundabout next to Krispy Kreme donuts, has been predicted to suffer a 9% increase in vehicle movements at peak times.

Although the developers have claimed it will not lead to a “severe impact” on the existing road network, they say activating the unused traffic lights that can control traffic arriving from the Leeds side may help.

An ambition to reduce car trips by lone drivers by 10% within five years will see car sharing, walking, cycling and public transport promoted.