At a council meeting on Monday (21 June), councillors voted unanimously in favour of the project, which will eventually bring 1,000 jobs to the area.

The technical hitch stems from a planning objection raised by a property company that owns an adjoining plot, which has forced the government to conduct an environmental assessment of the site.

Mike Young, Polestar project manager, said that the issue was "just a technicality" and that the restriction would be lifted "today or tomorrow".

Construction on the site, adjacent to the M1, is due to start at the end of the first week of July. A previous building on the plot has been demolished.

Young added that "ink on paper on the first press" was scheduled for the last week of next March.

He said that recruitment advertising for the site was already circulating within Polestar, and that ads would appear in the local and trade press "this week or next". He added that most of the required printing kit has now been bought for the site. The new factory will house Cerutti gravure presses and Ferag finishing equipment.

The site was previously home to the Avesta steel rolling mills.

Story by Josh Brooks