BLACKBURN-based e-cigarette company Totally Wicked proposes to expand its Mill Hill premises to meet growing demand for its products.

The firm is hoping to add a new manufacturing and mixing plant to its site on Stancliffe Street Industrial Estate with a view to creating more jobs.

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On Thursday Blackburn with Darwen planning committee will decide on the company’s application to construct a new building on vacant and derelict land next to its existing premises.

It currently employs 65 people on the Mill Hill site.

The new building will be two-storeys, free-standing and 17.5 metres by 18.5 metres with a height of seven metres.

Councillors will decide whether to give the go-ahead after an objection from neighbour Eric Coupe of Wellington Road.

He claimed the original proposal for the building, decorated in Totally Wicked’s distinctive brand colours, was an ‘eyesore’ with too much ‘chilli red’ on it.

Totally Wicked remodelled the former car showroom into a manufacturing and warehouse site in 2011.

Since Mr Coupe’s objection, the firm has amended its plans so the new development will be clad in ‘black and red to match the accent colours of the existing building within the site’.

Included in the plan are new offices, a new retaining wall and landscaping.

A report from officers to the committee says: “The proposal provides for the development of a vacant and derelict employment site which currently detracts from the surrounding residential area, whilst creating new jobs and is considered in accordance with policy and guidance.”

The report says that the area’s local plan supports a mix of new housing and industrial and office development on the site and surrounding area.

It recommends approval, adding the firm has reduced the height of the building and the amount of red cladding in the light of the objection.

Totally Wicked’s operations director, Stuart Mercer, said: “The current facility has reached its capacity in terms of both production areas for bottling e-liquids and also office space as a result of increasing demand for the products over the last three years. The new facility will bring increased production volumes and will result in additional employment.”