High-flying Shipley electronics giant Filtronic, whose workforce has soared from just 800 to a staggering 2,950 worldwide in just 18 months, is planning to create another 400 new jobs.

The firm's success story, led by multi-millionaire Professor David Rhodes, is set to take another huge leap forward if plans for a new factory in Baildon get the go-ahead.

The company has put in a bid to buy 16 acres of land bordering the River Aire off Otley Road in Charlestown for the new plant.

The expansion would increase the size of the firm's local workforce from 750 to 1,150.

Filtronic, set up in 1977, has seen its workforce numbers soar following the international success of its components for mobile phones and cable TV, and specialist parts for missiles.

The new factory plan comes days after the Telegraph & Argus revealed that the firm is in line to capture a multi-million pound order for electronic warfare equipment to be used in the new Eurofighter jet.

And it follows publication last week of the Sunday Times Rich List which reported that Professor Rhodes, who owns half of Bradford City, is worth a massive £43 million.

According to a confidential Council report, the company's offer to buy the land in Charlestown is to be recommended for approval to the regeneration committee next Wednesday despite the site not being ear-marked for development in the Unitary Development Plan.

Company director and solicitor Chris Schofield, said: "It's land that we have been interested in for a number of years. At this stage it is still a prospective inquiry but we are very interested in trying to do something there.."

He said all three Filtronic group companies Comtek, Components and Cable Communications would be involved in the Charlestown site but no timetable has yet been established for the development and negotiations are still at an and early tentative stage.

Chris Schofield said: "The company is a success story. In 1990 this business employed just 100 people in the UK - now we have 700 people in Yorkshire alone. We have moved to being the number one supplier of Radio Frequency Microwave Equipment which is one of the fastest growing markets in the world."

Filtronic Comtek announced an extra 50 jobs at its Saltaire site in January thanks to massive global sales of mobile phones. And Filtronic Components, based in Charlestown, took on an extra 30 people in 1998.

A report to the Council's regeneration committee states: "The company now has an urgent need to acquire the Otley Road site for the next phase of expansion of their manufacturing capacity.

The proposed land is designated as washland in the Unitary Development Plan. Washland is set aside to take flood water from the River Aire and redirect it for other areas. However it is possible to design a building on the land to accommodate the water.

A development on adjacent land by Baildon firm Denso Marston created an uproar in 1990 when villagers called for the green belt land to remain undeveloped.

Last year the company more than doubled its size when it acquired three new companies overseas.

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