Nottingham City Council has given the green light to a 177,606 sq ft office development on London Road in the city. Mark Krassowski, director of Walsingham Planning, which helped put together the planning application, told Insider this morning: “The Council unanimously accepted the planning officer’s recommendation to grant planning permission, subject to the Oakhill Group entering into a Section 106 legal agreement.” The 3.7-acre site is currently being used by Castle College as an education and training centre. Oakhill Group, a subsidiary of property company Ridge, which has offices in Leicester and Birmingham, wants to turn the site into a mixed-use development of offices and a restaurant/bar. Oakhill sees the proposal as the first phase of the wider development of the Eastcroft area, and council chiefs will no doubt hope that the scheme will kick-start the nearby Eastside regeneration zone, which has been mothballed since before the recession. However, Krassowski added that no start date for the London Road scheme had yet been decided. He said: “The scheme is the culmination of several years of discussion with Nottingham City Council and also involved Nottingham Regeneration Limited. We are hoping that the development will be the start of the regeneration of the whole area including the Eastcroft Depot.” Nottingham-based CMPG Architects is now working on a detailed design, and the agent on the scheme is Innes England.

Birmingham Chamber of Commerce is itself going into business. The organisation has launched a range of discounted services in liaison with a number of business partners. Chamber Leasing gives members access to greener, more efficient vehicles and cheaper fuel bills, Chamber Travel offers members savings on airfares and Chamber Businesses For Sale.com provides a link to thousands of businesses for sale on the web. A marketing search facility, discounted utility bills and private medical insurance are also available. Russell Jeans, membership and business services director, said: “The world of business is changing, and the Chamber has to revolutionise the way it does business.”

Worcestershire supply chain specialist TM Logistics (TML) has been awarded an £18m contract extension with one of the world’s leading consumer packaging companies. Rexam Beverage Can Europe has retained the services of TML for a further five years. Hugh Gallacher, European logistics director at Rexam Beverage Can Europe, said: “We have an excellent working relationship with TM Logistics and regard them as a valued partner and an integral member of our team. They align with our supply chain philosophy of cost, quality and supply and have consistently exceeded our expectations in terms of service, delivery and quality.”

A Birmingham solicitor appeared in court yesterday charged with offences in connection with a £50m mortgage fraud. Kamran Malik, who worked at Birmingham firm A&H Solicitors, appeared alongside Mark Knights, who was working at Mace & Jones in Manchester at the time of the alleged offences. The two have been charged with three counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception. The proceedings come as part of an ongoing Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation, which has already seen six others, including four solicitors, being charged in December 2009. The case was referred to the SFO by West Midlands Police in 2006 following a complaint from the Cheshire Building Society. Neither defendant is now employed by the firms they worked for.

Birmingham- and Burton-based ORS UK has reported robust growth in its office clearance and move management divisions, leading to a doubling in size of its vehicle fleet and a new appointment to its sales team. With 20 years’ experience in the office furniture sector, Herbie Johnson joins as sales manager and will be responsible for sales across both offices, as well as expanding the existing new furniture division of the business. Karl Ward took over the ownership of the business as managing director six months ago and has grown the client base to include regional players such as Hammonds, Kier and Severn Trent.

OWB, the Birmingham marketing and design agency, has been appointed by Fixings Plus, also based in the city, to develop a new product catalogue, highlighting its range of products available for the construction industry. Fixings Plus was established in 2004 and provides specialist construction products from its 10,000 sq ft premises.

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has hit out at the M6 Toll operator after it increased the toll price for HGVs by 6.4 per cent despite a drop in traffic volume. The trade body fears that even more lorries will avoid the bypass, adding to congestion on the already over-burdened M6. Stephen Kelly, the FTA’s head of policy for the Midlands, said: “Extra toll costs are the last thing the commercial vehicle sector needs, but by effectively closing the gate to this vital corridor for so many hauliers, we are in danger of not realising the economic and environmental benefits that this road was built for in the first place.”

Navman Wireless, which is based at Keele Science Park, has launched its vehicle-tracking system in Italy, Taiwan and Mexico. The company, which tracks more than 110,000 vehicles worldwide, has launched new operations following in depth research and pilot ventures. Navman Wireless’ Italian office will be headed by Marco Federzoni, who said: “Vehicle tracking for fleet management is relatively new to Italy, and the country accounts for around 12 per cent of Europe’s commercial vehicle fleets.” Navman Wireless is also planning to invest heavily in its dedicated R&D centres in Silicon Valley and Auckland, New Zealand.

Louth-based Grantham Industries, which owns GBM Demolition, has invested £2m in a new metal recycling centre, creating ten jobs. GBM Metal Recycling opened last month at a 15-acre site on Brigg Road, Caistor and is the largest site of its kind in the county. The facility has been given a new lease of life by the company after being purchased from Hambleton Bros, who closed the yard two years ago. It will be used to collect, buy and process ferrous and non-ferrous metals on a national scale.

Representatives from Derby’s private and public sector will be at the House of Commons in London on Monday for the latest Derby Embassy, organised by Marketing Derby. Derby MPs Margaret Beckett and Bob Laxton are hosting the event in the Terrace Marquee, aiming to promote inward investment into Derby’s office sector. Insider will be at the event, and will be reporting on any announcements made in Tuesday’s Insider News.

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Pharmaceutical wholesaler East Midlands Pharma has taken a 16,500 sq ft warehouse unit at Highcross’ Old Dalby Business Park, Melton Mowbray. Highcross has let the unit to the company, which is relocating its warehouse operations from a nearby industrial estate, on a six-year lease. Andrew and Ashwell acted as agents for the Old Dalby Business Park.

A former senior executive at a global pharmaceutical company has taken the helm of the North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership (NSRP). Dr Catherine Raines PhD, who was previously chair of AstraZeneca’s China Business Council based in Shanghai and is currently a non-executive director of HM Land Registry, has been appointed as the regeneration body’s new chair. Dr Raines said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be appointed to this critical role for North Staffordshire. As a Midlander myself, I am 100 per cent committed to seeing progress across the whole breadth of the North Staffordshire sub-region.”

Jaguar Land Rover has appointed Dr Ralf Speth as chief executive officer with overall responsibility for the company’s operations. He will report to Carl-Peter Forster, the recently appointed group chief executive officer of Tata Motors.