£5m scheme to transform a fire-ravaged recycling plant recommended for approval

Councillors will make a decision on the plans, which are expected to create more than 100 jobs at the former Lawrence Recycling site in Kidderminster, at a meeting on Tuesday.

Council planners have backed the scheme saying it has economic benefits and will bring the site, which has been lying empty since last September, back into use.

The Kidderminster automotive components plant will supply Jaguar Land Rover and Ford.

A report by Wyre Forest District Council case officer Paul Round, which will go before councillors, says: "It is considered that an investor of this calibre will act as a catalyst for further investment and growth within this area of Kidderminster and Wyre Forest as a whole.

See also: Smethwick fire - How Jayplas fought back after huge inferno.

"This current proposal will also see in excess of 100 jobs created within the area, and this alone provides a key justification for the proposals."

The town has beaten off strong competition from the UK, Europe and Asia to secure the new base for Amtek International, which is part of the worldwide Amtek Auto Group.

Officials say the new factory will be part of the company's expansion plans to meet the growing demand for aluminium automotive components. District and county council bosses said the deal is a game changer which will create highly-skilled engineering jobs over the next two years.

The former Lawrence Recycling site, called the Forge, on the A451 between Kidderminster and Stourport, closed after struggling to get back on its feet after the plant was hit by two fires in six months. Wyre Forest District Council and Worcestershire County Council worked in partnership to offer a significant incentive package to secure the deal.

Councillor John Campion, Wyre Forest District Council's regeneration boss, has welcomed the news as a positive step which could led to Kidderminster becoming destination for similar companies.

Amtek International melts aluminium and casts it into complex components for the automotive industry, across the UK, Europe and Asia.

Officials from the company say the new factory will help the company to deliver the business growth forecasted from its major European customers such as JLR and Ford.

The company currently employs 535 people across two sites in the UK

Work at Lawrence's Skip Hire Limited, which trades as Lawrence Recycling and Waste Management, ceased after administrators from KMPG took over the Stourport Road site.

The family-run firm went into administration with the loss of 24 jobs in September.

A £250,000 taxpayer-funded operation was carried out to extinguish the most recent blaze which was in June last year. It followed the first fire at the site in December 2012.