A SUCCESSFUL Vale company whose products will be on show at this month's Olympic Games has been given permission to relocate.

Keith Ree, managing director with the tractor which will be appearing in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics.

An application from The Smallholder Tractor Company to move from Badsey to a building at Three Cocks Lane in Offenham was approved at Wychavon District Council's planning committee last Thursday.

The company's managing director Keith Ree welcomed the decision and said he hoped it would mark an end to a turbulent chapter in the company's history.

Apart from its search for a new home Mr Ree's partner left the company earlier this year and only last week raiders broke into its Badsey premises and stole £12,000 worth of office equipment as well as attempting to set fire to the building.

He said: "Hopefully now we have a base we can concentrate on the business of tractors rather than planning applications."

The company's offices have already moved to the new premises and Mr Ree hopes to start production there by the beginning of October.

The company, whose tractors will be used during the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sydney Olympic Games, needed to move because an earlier appeal against an enforcement notice at its Badsey premises was unsuccessful rendering its presence there unlawful.

The company, which was set up four years ago and exports its compact tractors around the world, told the council that if allowed to move it would have 10 employees at the site and use an adjacent field to test the tractors.

It added the only expansion at the site would be inside the building and it expected the movements of HGV at the site to 20% less than its previous use as a distribution centre.

The committee attached a list of conditions to its approval such as agreeing a noise attenuation scheme, screening the site, and restricting the hours of work.

They also said activities at the site should be restricted to tractor manufacture and repairs.