A MEDICINAL cannabis firm with plans to grow the plant in Wiltshire hopes a Home Office decision will leave them on a high. London-based Sativa Investments has already signed an £85,000 option to lease a 7.5-acre site in south Wiltshire where it plans to grow medicinal cannabis used in pain relieving products. Permission was granted last year for a new greenhouse at the secret facility, which is expected to cost £10.5m. A spokesman said Sativa was now waiting to hear from the Home Office whether they had been successful in winning a licence to grow, harvest and process the plant for medical purposes. Anyone wishing to grow hemp on an industrial scale must be licensed by the government.

Last year, company founder Geremy Thomas called the plans to produce cannabis in Wiltshire a “major step towards being the UK’s first seed to consumer business.”

Medicinal cannabis is already grown at a site in Norfolk, with the product exported to the United States.

Reports say the secret site covers the equivalent of 23 football pitches.