A PLAN has been unveiled to build a £1 million factory on green belt land near York - 300 metres from the site of a previous scheme which was withdrawn following protests by residents.

Parish councillors at Elvington will meet tonight to discuss the proposal for a 30,000 square foot building for Portasilo Ltd.

A previous application to build a new home for Huntington-based Portasilo's materials handling and storage division at Elvington industrial estate was withdrawn earlier this year after protests from householders.

Some feared it could mean more traffic being channelled on to a back road which they said was already being used by traffic cutting through to the M62.

This time the structure, on an old runway, is screened from the houses by a huge hangar on the former RAF airfield - but it lies on green belt land.

If planners agree to a change of use from the green belt - and there is an argument that special circumstances make that change possible - then the project would be built by the applicant, York building firm William Birch, which owns the land, and leased to Portasilo.

The views of local parish councillors will be passed on to City of York Council planners, who must decide on the scheme.

If approved, the move out of Huntington and into the new factory by between 120 and 150 workers could take place by the middle of next year, and production of new silos for storage of chemicals, sand, cement and similar goods would begin soon after.

Portasilo's other division, Portastor Communications, would continue at the 126,000 square foot Huntington operation - where earlier this year 120 out of the 500 staff employed there were made redundant in two phases.

The cutbacks, approved by York-based parent company the Shepherd Group, came in the wake of a slump in the telecoms industry, which uses Portastor to store and protect delicate equipment.

A spokesman for Shepherd said: "With the bulk handling systems division moving out, it would give more scope for Portastor Communications to absorb increased production when the anticipated upturn in the communications market takes place and analysts are saying that could be some time in 2002."

Cliff Carruthers, head of development control at York City Council, said: "As it is green belt, new building would be inappropriate unless special circumstances can be demonstrated."

He added the applicants said they had considered every other business park in York, and rejected them for good reasons.

Now the scheme would be considered in the light of the careful balance which had to be struck between preserving green belt land and the council's attempts to attract and maintain industry.

Updated: 11:32 Monday, September 03, 2001