The promise came after councillors for the Broxbourne constituency met with local residents who oppose the construction of the 57,000sqm facility.

Labour's parliamentary candidate for Broxbourne, 23-year-old Jamie Bolden, said he would back the residents.

"We have already seen on other sites how reckless planning permission can blight the lives of local people. I am determined to prevent this from happening here," he said.

Malcolm Aitken, a Labour councillor for Waltham Cross and member of the planning committee, added that residents had approached him "concerned at what they fear will be a monstrosity operating on their doorstep".

Plans for the 40-acre site, at the junction between the M25 and the A10 also include a 29,000m restaurant and hotel complex. A decision on the planning application is expected during May.

Separately, MAN Roland has released further details of its 22-press 200m (E300m) order from NI, but chief executive Gerd Finkbeiner has refuted rumours that the massive order will take up all its
production capacity.

Finkbeiner said: "Speculation that we will have to put other orders on the back-burner or that we can't accept any new ones is absolutely unfounded.

"All our other orders will be handled as normal, and we will be fighting for every new order like we always do."

Twelve of the 22 triple-width Colorman presses will go to Waltham Cross, with five at Knowsley in Liverpool, three at NI's plant in Kells, Ireland, and two at a new site in Glasgow.

The two Glasgow lines will feature six printing towers and one folder, and produce up to 144 full-colour pages. The other 20 presses will each have five printing towers and one folder, allowing them to print up to 120pp full-colour.

Story by Josh Brooks