Retrospective planning permission is being sought by a firm analysing Covid-19 tests for extra storage facilities.

Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC), which operates the Lighthouse Laboratory at Alderley Park, says that current demand for test analyses necessitates the addition of a logistics and storage unit to help co-ordinate the unboxing of new samples.

In a letter to planners, agent Avison Young said: "Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic MDC are one of the many companies across the country who work on behalf of the government to examine Covid-19 tests.

"MDC currently carry out thousands of tests per day but as you are no doubt aware, the government is under increasing pressure to upscale the number of tests carried out per day.

"In order to meet these demands for increased testing it is imperative that they increase their storage capacity due to the number of new samples arriving each day."

As the proposals are retrospective, it means MDC has already carried out the work, with the new unit being adjacent to the company's Lighthouse Laboratory.

Indoingso, the extra room created by moving storage to a different structure means MDC is confident 'this will allow them to increase the daily number of tests in accordance with the government objectives'.

The application is for a temporary facility, which will only be in use for 18 months.