Richards confident over factory plans

Work on developing Prodrive's 200-acre facility at Honiley is expected to get underway at the start of next year, with part of it set to be used as a factory for the company's new Formula One team.

Prodrive have already lodged an entry for the 2008 championship and are awaiting news from the FIA about whether they will be one of the 11 teams who are granted a slot on the grid.

Planning application for the 'Fulcrum' factory was lodged in March, but reports in the media last week suggested that the neighbouring Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council had joined local councillors and residents in opposing the plans.

Despite the talk of opposition, however, Richards has said he has no worries about the situation.

Solihull cannot block the plans because they are only a neighbouring authority and the final decision will be taken by Warwick District Council - who have so far indicated their support.

With the scheme set to receive grants from local bodies and having the support of politicians, Richards believes there is no reason why the planning application will not to be approved.

"I am very confident of the sound basis of it [the plans]," he told autosport.com. "On an economic level there is no disputing it.

"Obviously an application of this scale has issues with it, but we have looked into them very carefully. For issues like the environmental impact, we will have all low level buildings and we will use very environmentally-friendly processes to the way they look and are heated.

"We have support from the parish council, we have support from local MPs and the general support in the area is very strong. There is a small group of six people who have objected on environmental issues, which were valid comments, but we have had a very robust environment study done which has allayed the fears of most people."   

A decision on the planning application could be made as soon as next month.