The Murdoch-owned newspaper giant, which publishes The Times and The Sun, has acquired a plot at the junction of the M25 and the A10.

The land is part of Park Plaza, a 64-acre business park at Waltham Cross, which is designated in local plans as a site for technological businesses. A property investment company called Northern Star Investments, which was incorporated in March 2002, bought the land for 21.25m on 9 August 2002.

Northern Star accounts show that its immediate parent company is NI and that its ultimate parent is The News Corporation. Peter Quaile, principal planning officer at Broxbourne Borough Council, said his department had been promised an application on the site at the end of July.He said that he was unaware of the owner of the site, but believed that an application for a printing facility would be submitted in the coming weeks.

The Park Plaza site, which has excellent transport links, would replace the 18-year-old Wapping facility which employs 1,000 staff.

A spokeswoman for NI said: "The basic situation is that there is still no decision. There are various bits of land bought and sold at different times but we don't comment on speculation."

One newspaper source estimated the likely spend on presses at around 200m, plus the costs of land and building. NI's need to move out of Wapping has been accelerated by the launch of the compact Times, which has pushed The Sun out to contract printers. A decision is expected imminently, according to sources.

NI is also waiting for a decision on a planning application to build a 12-storey and a 24-storey building on its lorry marshalling area at Wapping. The application, for offices, is under consideration at Tower Hamlets Borough Council.

Story by Josh Brooks