COUNCILLORS will be asked next week to help fast-track the expansion of a business, which would create 200 jobs.

The plans for expansion at automotive manufacturer Rosti McKechnie Ltd’s Pickering site will be put to Ryedale District Council’s planning meeting on Wednesday.

The company plans to build a warehouse and associated staff facilities, as well as a water lagoon, on its existing site after winning a new contract.

The company, which employs more than 700 people at its bases at Stamford Bridge and Pickering, including 400 at Pickering, has signed a long-term strategic agreement with an automotive partner to develop key components for several new vehicle models up to 2017 and beyond. To accommodate this growth, it has said it would need to invest in new machinery and processes, along with building a new storage and logistics facility.

The plans are currently subject to public consultation which runs until May 22. But an officers report said the applicants have requested the authority processes the application quickly because it requires the building to be in full use by the end of the year to meet its operational requirements.

Officers will recommend that members delegate the decision to the head of planning and housing at the council to prevent the issue having to return to committee, which could take weeks off the process.

The report said: “A preliminary assessment has concluded that the principle of the development is acceptable, subject to consideration of the precise details and impacts of the scheme.”

Few responses have been received from the public consultation, it said.

The business, previously known as McKechnie Plastic Components, has traded from the Westgate Carr Road site in Pickering since 1969, in partnership with customers such as Jaguar Land Rover, Ford, Plastic Omnium and Hewlett Packard.

It was bought for £30.7 million by the £240 million-turnover Swedish company Rosti Group last year, after increasing turnover to about £75 million.