Sell Whitland with no strings – FUW

By FWi staff

DAIRY Crest should sell its giant mothballed creamery at Whitland, Carmarthenshire, without restrictions on its use, according to the Farmers Union of Wales.

Peter Davies, the unions county executive officer, has expressed fears that if the company succumbs to mounting pressure to dispose of the plant, the deal will prohibit its use for any form of milk processing.

Nine years before the closure, 27 million was invested in the site.

We believe it is an indictment of Dairy Crests management that, when other dairy companies in the area are expanding because they see the potential for processing milk from Welsh farms near the point of production, this company is shipping milk to Gloucestershire, said Mr Davies.

We would like to see Whitland and the Carmarthen cheese packing facility, which is due to close with the loss of 270 jobs, sold without strings to provide local employment, if possible in food processing.

Dairy Crest is also under pressure from the Welsh Assembly, local MPs and councillors.

The company said this week that the future of Whitland was under review and proposals could be put to the board at the end of March.

Glyn Davies, chairman of the Assemblys agriculture committee, has called a meeting of key agri-food interests on 28 February.

It will discuss the impact of the planned closure of Dairy Crests plants at Carmarthen and Cardiff on farmers and efforts to foster local value-added processing of their products.