Asda is planning a second food distribution centre in Didcot with the prospect of 500 new jobs.

The 38,910 sq m chilled distribution centre is proposed on a 28-acre site on the western edge of the town next to Didcot Power Station, which is at present used as a car storage area.

Gazeley Properties, a subsidiary of Asda WalMart, has submitted a planning application to the Vale of White Horse District Council. It said the company required a new distribution centre to improve the reliability of the delivery of cold and frozen produce to their stores across Oxfordshire.

With an existing dry goods warehouse at Didcot's Southmead Industrial Park, Asda said it would be able to pool transport fleets and reduce its annual HGV traffic by 3.3 million miles.

Initially, 200 jobs would be created -- from management to catering -- when the warehouse opens in 2004. Gazeley planning and development director Don Morgan said: "We envisage this number rising to 500 when we are fully operational." In a statement, the company said the development would be screened and that residents would be unaffected by lorry movements as the site was not close to housing.

It was willing to agree that lorries using the warehouse avoid Didcot town centre and village roads and go directly on to the A34 via the A4130 Didcot-Milton Heights link road.

The application will be decided by the Vale of White Horse District Council.