New Creamery

[Bitter End]

Extract from --- Dairy reporter.com


First Milk’s new creamery faces potential delay
By Ben Bouckley, 25-Aug-2010

Related topics: Markets
First Milk’s plan to build a new creamery in Campbeltown could be delayed as a contigent planning application from Tesco is held back.
Argyll & Bute Council has asked Tesco for more information on a linked planning application to build a new store on the dairy processor’s existing Scottish site.
Farmer-owned co-operative First Milk announced plans to replace its current Campbeltown creamery in July 2009, with an undisclosed proportion of funding contingent upon the sale of the site to Tesco.
Planning permission for the creamery was granted this July, but a spokeswoman for Argyll & Bute Council, which is overseeing the application process, told DairyReporter.com that Tesco had yet to secure approval for the new store:
“We can confirm that we received a planning application from Tesco, and were hoping that the report could move forward to committee stage for approval in September.
“However, there are a few issues that we wish to clarify with Tesco, and we’ve gone back to the company in order to do so. We need to do this before we proceed with the application, so the precise timeline is a little up in the air now.”
Planning consent
First Milk did not comment specifically on the potential delay, but communications manager Jill Coyle said that building of the new facility was contingent upon Tesco’s success: “Due to the linked nature of the applications, we cannot go ahead until Tesco receives planning consent for its new store on the site of the existing creamery.

“A decision on that application is expected from Argyll & Bute Council later this year. If granted, we will then work alongside Tesco and the council to determine timelines.”

Coyle said that First Milk specifically intended to increase production at the new facility to grow market share for its Mull of Kintyre brands, while Scottish Pride cheese will also be made at the new facility.
She added: “The new creamery will provide processing efficiencies which cannot be achieved at the current plant, and will also allow us to treat and process the whey from the cheese-making process, which is currently not utilised.”
Asked about the potential for new job creation, Coyle said: “We are continuing to work through the numbers of people who will be required to operate the new creamery.
“Unlike the existing facility, we will also be looking to process all of the cheese whey on site, as well as looking at other opportunities for processing flexibility and new product development.”
Struggling to cope
First Milk announced plans to replace the existing creamery, which has been producing cheese since the early 1900s, after it said in July 2009 that the current site was “struggling to cope with modern demands”.
Aside from the sale of the existing site to Tesco, the new creamery is being funded by the Scottish government (£3.9m), with First Milk funding the balance.

First Milk produces 16 per cent of all Great Britain’s liquid milk, as well as cheese and dairy ingredients. It also holds a 10 per cent stake in Robert Wiseman dairies.

[Tom B]

how can approval for the new creamery be dependent on a new tesco for campbeltown? - why are they linked, at whose request? MOKCheddar is an iconic brand available all over the country, and it seems a no brainer that if this existing successful business is wanting to expand it should be given assistance to? Not just funding, but whatever else is required to make it happen.

a new sainsburys opened in strathaven a few months ago, and the existing co-op is now ghostly quiet, jobs have gone, and it has started partioning off the shop to make it smaller....

[Ship called Dignity]

how can approval for the new creamery be dependent on a new tesco for campbeltown? - why are they linked, at whose request? MOKCheddar is an iconic brand available all over the country, and it seems a no brainer that if this existing successful business is wanting to expand it should be given assistance to? Not just funding, but whatever else is required to make it happen.

Totally agree Tom - can't understand why this would hold up the actual approval!

Which brings me back to a couple of points I made on the Tesco's thread about why were people referring to the Creamery when writing letters connected with the Campbeltown Tescos planning application?

[Sheik Yir Erse]

I read the article as Tesco's aren't going to conclude the deal until they have full planning proposal for their new store.

First Milk must obviously be waiting on this to part-fund the new creamery. So it's probably, no planning permission for Tesco's = no purchase of land = no new creamery? Hopefully someone in the know can fill us in.

[WTC]

From the Tesco thread I asked why the land was not just put up for general sale

Then the farmers and creamery would not have to black mail us into giving in to an over large new Tescos

[the big man]

first milk need he money from the sale of the old creamery to fund the new one simple as that ,no planning for new site no sale end of.

[hoots the scoop]

first milk need he money from the sale of the old creamery to fund the new one simple as that ,no planning for new site no sale end of.

yes, that is the line being spun by First Milk, Tesco and the dairy farmers but is that really the case? I think not.

First Milk is the biggest dairy company in the UK. Below is a quote from their own web page.
"
"First Milk is the largest dairy farmer-owned business in the UK. Our members’ farms stretch from Central Scotland to the South of England and from West Wales to East Anglia.

We handle 1.6 billion litres of milk every year and are the UK's Cheddar specialists. We also supply a range of customers with innovative dairy ingredients products"

Do we really believe they need the sale of one small creamery to fund another, slightly bigger, one?

It looks to me, and many others, that whole thing is being pushed, driven and led by Tesco to get an even bigger grip on Campbeltown and turn it into yet another Tescotown.
And, no matter what Maxmix says, that is only good for Tesco.
You can be sure it would mean the end of Co-Op and, no matter what kind of town centre regeneration there is, more and more empty shops and businesses in town. Oh aye, cant wait for that.

It is a massive Tesco con trick.

And yes, I am not inclined to put my real name to this.

[Ship called Dignity]

Hoots the scoop is a generic account and seeks to generate and stimulate conversation. If you wish access to this account please PM us. This account does not or should not represent personal views!

[Isa]

Talking to shoppers in store as we all do while walking up and down the sometimes depleted narrow aisles is that they can't wait to have a decent sized shop to go to. It would be interesting to see what type of shopper objects or approves the proposal. You wouldn't have to give your name but at the end of your post you could say for example

Main shopper for the family,
Don't shop, someone does it for me
Do you work and have little time for shopping and want it done as soon as possible with the biggest selection so that deciding what's for dinner is a dawdle?

Personally I find shopping a pain and it would help if there was more choice and room to browse. I find the COOP a better experience since their last refubishment, more roomy and better freezer stock than Tesco. I would still shop there as well as Tesco even if they did move. I prefer the Coop's meat selection to anything that Tesco provides but there are days where I just want to get everything in the one place instead of having to visit both store so I would want a bigger store for that.

Isa

[hoots the scoop]

Hoots the scoop is a generic account and seeks to generate and stimulate conversation. If you wish access to this account please PM us. This account does not or should not represent personal views!

...

[weetoonboy]

Whats happening with the proposed New Creamery. If Tesco has been given permission to go ahead, why hasnt anything been reported about the go-ahead of the new creamery bulding? When are they going to start the construction. I may have missed it tho?

I ask because I heard a rumour that it wasnt going to go ahead. That they plan to make the cheese elsewhere and label it Mull of Kintyre Cheddar, because the milk used will come from here.

If this is true then action needs to be taken to ensure that products using our unique brand (Cheers McCartney) are manufatured/processed locally. Im sure the local councillors and MEP could get on to brussels and protect our Trademark and local jobs.

The MoK cheese is in all the Supermarkets all over the country. And its one of the best.

PS, Clachan had the cheapest fuel between here and Oban at the weekend. Oban tesco was £1.29 and they were £1.28

[D10jimmy]

construction will be starting as far as i know in march.
they are busy behind the scenes just finishing of the finer details.
if its not going aheadf then the members certainly havent been informed.

[Sweltered]

Whats happening with the proposed New Creamery. If Tesco has been given permission to go ahead, why hasnt anything been reported about the go-ahead of the new creamery bulding? When are they going to start the construction. I may have missed it tho?

I ask because I heard a rumour that it wasnt going to go ahead. That they plan to make the cheese elsewhere and label it Mull of Kintyre Cheddar, because the milk used will come from here.

If this is true then action needs to be taken to ensure that products using our unique brand (Cheers McCartney) are manufatured/processed locally. Im sure the local councillors and MEP could get on to brussels and protect our Trademark and local jobs.

The MoK cheese is in all the Supermarkets all over the country. And its one of the best.

PS, Clachan had the cheapest fuel between here and Oban at the weekend. Oban tesco was £1.29 and they were £1.28

Just saw some Campbeltown cheese in a shop over here. $28 per lb......

[bill]

I heard there might be a problem with drainage at the new creamery site.



$28 a lb.