Leominster Journal 22nd October 2008
SOFT FRUIT GIANT OFFERS CRITICS "AN OLIVE BRANCH"
ONE OF Britain's biggest soft fruit growers has offered an olive branch to its communities and county planners, before holding a second round of consultations about the future of its two main farms in Herefordshire.
S&A Produce will hold public meetings from 2pm to 8pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 4-5 at Brook Farm, Marden, and on Thursday and Friday, November 6 and 7, at Leominster Community Centre, before submitting planning applications covering the whole of its business at Marden and Brierley to Herefordshire Council later in the month.
Pledge
At the heart of its shop window of proposals revealed to the Journal this week is a pledge to cut the area of polytunnels used to grow 10,000 tonnes of strawberries a year by about 45%, with a corresponding reduction in its seasonal workforce, much of which is immigrant labour from Poland and other countries.
Table-top polytunnels will be repositioned and landscaped, workers will be accommodated in purpose-built 'pods' as well as existing caravans, a reservoir will be built to meet fruit growing needs and a water irrigation system will be installed to reduce flood risk.
A company statement read: "In Marden and Amberley we currently use 74 hectares of polytunnels for strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.
"We propose to consolidate that to one 36-hectare site at Marden, taking away those fields closest to the village community."
The 1,250 workers at Marden would be reduced to 1,000 within two years, with more labour cuts as the transition to table-top production proceeds.
The 67 hectares of polytunnels at Brierley will be relocated and landscaped "away from the valley sides into the valley floor", while the campsite for 1,460 seasonal workers would be reduced to hold 1,000 and "over the years ahead our target for both sites (Marden and Brierley) combined is 1,500," said the statement.
100 full time jobs
Total polytunnel covering would be reduced from 300 to 170 hectares.
On the economic front, S&A emphasis the more than 100 full-time jobs they provide in Herefordshire, while the company spends over £8.7 million annually in the local area and "of this around £6 million is spending relating specifically in the production of soft fruit".
Using a New Economics Foundation formula, the business estimates a compounded contribution to the local economy of about £53 million, and "of this, the soft fruit enterprise contributes over £29 million", it says.
"If S&A were refused planning permission for polytunnels the contribution to the local economy would fall by £18 million," it concludes.