THE last intact feature of Banbury’s Northern Aluminium Co factory is set to be restored to its former glory as part of plans to preserve the history of the site.

A planning application has been submitted to reinstall gates erected in 1931 at the Southam Road factory, later operated as Alcan.

The listed gates had been removed in recent years because of concerns they would be damaged by lorries.

A Grade II listed art deco office building erected in 1936 and 1937 and a gatehouse will also be refurbished under the plans.

A listed memorial garden and war memorial for workers killed in the Second World War would also be restored.

The factory was famed for producing 60 per cent of metal for planes during the war’s early years.

At its height, the factory employed 3,000 people and, such was its importance in the war effort, was covered in camouflage and a plywood decoy built to fool Nazi bombers.

Cherwell District Council gave planning permission this year for industrial units at the site, which closed in 2007. This led to most buildings being demolished.

Banbury Civic Society, which raised concerns that the industrial units would overwhelm the listed features, welcomed the plans.

Chairman Rob Kinchin-Smith said the gates were “rescued by a keen worker from the scrap pile”.

He said: “We are generally delighted by the care that has been taken to conserve what is best and to restore what has been lost or damaged in the past.

“Probably what pleases us the most about the current application is that it proposes to restore and re-erect the gates back at the old site entrance in their original format.”

The gates were designed by Wallis Gilbert and Partners, whose work also includes the famed art deco Hoover Factory on the A40 in Ealing, London.

Archive photographs will be used to make replica hinges as the originals have been lost.

Under the plans, a temporary building by the gatehouse will be removed and doors and windows replaced.

A ramp and access doors to the office building will be removed, along with metal steps and walkways and the interior will be refurbished.

The council is due to make a final decision on the plans, submitted by Standard Life Investments, which owns the site, this week.