AWS Eco Plastics has gained planning permission to rebuild the Lincolnshire plastics recycling site that was gutted by fire last August.

Lincolnshire County Council's planning committee unanimously gave the green light last month to the rebuild project in Hemswell.

Part of the £14m factory, which produces food-grade recycled PET and HDPE, was destroyed by a fire which broke out last August in the days following its start-up.

The blaze destroyed bottle-sorting and storage facilities, but reprocessing and hot washing equipment survived and the firm resumed production of food-grade PET a week after the fire broke out.

AWS project director Simon Faulkner said: "The granting of planning permission means we can now push on urgently with our build plans for the new sort line.

"The quick response of the Environment Agency and Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service has allowed us to incorporate their requirements in the plan, leading to the county council passing this permission without any delays.

"We are now working with our landlord and our equipment suppliers to bring the new facility on line as quickly as we can."