AN EXPANDING pharmaceutical company has been given the go-ahead to make changes to its already approved planned new base on the site of a former dairy farm at Broughton, Skipton.

Craven planners were told the site at Skinner Ground Farm, part of the Broughton Estate, and off the Broughton to Gargrave road, had been cleared and work was due to start next month.

James Ellis of Rural Solutions, agents for the Broughton Custodial Fund, for Broughton Laboratories, said the changes resulted in a better design more suited to the future occupants.

He told Craven District Council's planning committee that the company had outgrown its existing premises, on the main part of the estate.

What had started with just two people in 2006 had now grown to more than 70, with potential to expand even more, he said.

Original planning permission was given a year ago for the demolition of the existing farm building and its replacement with offices and pharmaceutical laboratories, with access off Old Lane.

It will include two U-shaped buildings set within a large car parking and service area and also a single storey communal building.

It is intended that the buildings will provide both a new base for Broughton Laboratories and for other similar businesses.

Changes to the original consent also include the addition of a 'stability storage shed' as an annexe to the main building.

Cllr Robert Heseltine said what concerned him was that the changes represented a 'substantial growth' in the size of the development and described it as a 'pharmaceutical business park'.

"The employment will be greatly welcomed, but do we have something here in chrysalis form of another Johnson and Johnson (Sysagenix)," he said.

Broughton Laboratories is a privately-owned global Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) analytical services business. It has received financial support from the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for its expansion plans.

GMP is a system for ensuring that products are consistently produced and controlled according to quality standards. It is designed to minimize the risks involved in any pharmaceutical production that cannot be eliminated through testing the final product.