Farm business centre approved

A THOUSAND jobs may be on the way for Somerset after councillors have approved plans for a new farm business centre.

Sedgemoor district council‘s planning committee has unanimously backed plans for a new regional agricultural centre next to the M5 near North Petherton.

The centre is said to be the county‘s largest-ever agriculture-related development.

The man behind the project, Somerset dairy farmer and NFU Council member Derek Mead, says he expects the 1,000 jobs scheduled to be created there in the first phase to be only half the eventual total.

Work on the 50-acre site is now scheduled to start in the autumn, with completion of the initial part of the project due a year later.

The development will centre around a new livestock market which will be accessible to farmers from a wide area of Somerset, Devon and North Dorset.

But it will also become home to a range of agricultural suppliers and services and, eventually, a conference suite.

Derek Mead, who farms near Weston-super-mare, says he is aiming to make life simpler for thousands of farmers.

“We shall be providing a livestock market which is easy to get to and won‘t involve the headache of driving lorries through town centres.”

“And with all the merchants and services such as land agents  grouped on the site it will become literally a one-stop shop for the farming sector,” Mr Mead said.

He declared himself “delighted” with the planners‘ verdict.

“We have been working on this scheme for a couple of years. We see it playing a major role in West Country farming in years to come,” he said.

“Farming itself is modernising, and this is a chance to develop a streamlined and efficient way of marketing stock as well as creating an invaluable focal point for farmers,” Mr Mead said.

The project is one of three major schemes the Mead Group now has underway.

It has already won approval for the £25m regeneration of the centre of Highbridge, and for a new £1 million tourist attraction for North Somerset ­ an open organic farm sited just off the M5 in Puxton, near Weston-super-mare.