A HOMEGROWN York business has been given the green light to expand onto a new out-of-town site, helping safeguard more than 100 jobs in York.

Car leasing firm Autohorn has secured planning permission for a 2000-car storage facility and a new office at Whitehall Grange, on Wigginton Road.

Richard Baines, chief executive of the Autohorn Group, said: “We are extremely pleased with the council’s decision to grant permission for our new car storage facility at Clifton Moor. This secures the future for our business and our staff in York for the longer-term.

“We can now start to implement our expansion plans which will make our operations greener and more efficient as well as creating 65 more jobs in the next three years.”

Planning permission was granted at meeting on Thursday evening, when councillors heard the company’s current site on York Central is under threat because of the development plans for that land.

The company needs “space to grow”, Mr Baines told councillors, and Whitehall Grange land is the only available and appropriate site in York.

Autohorn has been in operation for more than 20 years, and has a team of more than 100 employees and a fleet of more than 2000 cars. The firm is the largest customer at Mercedes Benz, Volvo and Toyota dealers based in York, so the new base on the edge of town will cut down on vehicle trips bringing cars in from dealerships on York’s northern ring road.

Autohorn bosses also say investment in the new site will help them create 65 more full time jobs by 2020, as well as indirectly creating 50 jobs in the local economy.

The Whitehall Grange site was once part of a World War Two airfield, and remnants of the runway and taxi strip are still visible on the site.

However, councillors said the land was in such a bad state that Autohorn’s plans would actually improve the greenbelt.

Cllr John Galvin said: “What’s there are the moment is a tip.

Autohorn is a “locally grown successful business” like Terry’s or Rowntree’s once were, and the greenbelt should not be a reason to stop its expansion.