PLANS have been submitted to rebuild part of a Selby business that was destroyed in an arson attack this year.

Selby Salads Ltd, based in Camblesforth, is a horticultural nursery used for the cultivation of tomatoes and cucumbers and employs 70 people.

In September, a huge fire spread through the site which caused severe damage to the warehouse and some adjacent portable buildings, leaving them unusable and causing huge billows of smoke and flame.

Four teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of arson over the fire, and remain on police bail.

This week a submission was given to council planners to build a new warehouse structure on the site of the fire-damaged one.

A report submitted to the council said the "generally flat" site mostly consists of 35 acres of greenhouses, and would retain vehicle access off Brigg Lane, close to the junction with the A645, screened by a wall of mature trees and bushes.

The refrigerated buildings damaged in the fire were mainly used for the packing and loading of cucumbers, and the plans suggest building a new frame on the current 665 square-metre site, which will be between five and 6.1m high.

It said adjoining neighbours and residents "have not been contacted in this instance as the existing building has been there since 2002", and the building "is being replaced on a like for like basis following the fire and is therefore considered not to affect them economically or environmentally".

A decision is expected to be made by Selby District Council's planning committee in early January.