AWARD-winning Tebay M6 services operator Westmorland has opened its second motorway venture - Gloucester Services on the M5.

The new northbound site has been created in partnership with the social regeneration charity Gloucestershire Gateway and will follow the Tebay model by focusing on local food, farming and community.

When a second, southbound service area opens in 2015, the £40 million project will employ 300 people and redistribute around £10m over 20 years back into local Gloucestershire charitable community projects.

Chief executive Sarah Dunning said: “We chose to build another Motorway Service Area because we have a particular niche in the market and we believe strongly in our alternative approach.

“The Gloucester site felt like a natural choice because of three key reasons; the first, its location – the M5 motorway is twice as busy as M6 at Tebay, primarily thanks to a strong holiday market traveling to the South West; the second, like Cumbria, Gloucestershire and its surrounding counties have an abundant and impressive producer and agricultural community; and finally, the opportunity of working with a local charity enables us to forge strong connections with the communities in Gloucestershire.”