S&A Produce has announced plans to drastically scale back its proposed operations at its Brierley site in Herefordshire to reduce the on-site accommodation and reduce the number of polytunnels.

Following changes to S&A management and a subsequent review of the business, which included further consultation with local residents, S&A has taken the decision to reduce its proposed operations at Brierley.

The company has submitted an amended planning application to Herefordshire County Council, which will reduce the amount of polytunnels on its Brierley site from 67 to 35 hectares. Success with this application would mean that S&A will operate a maximum of 71ha of polytunnels in Herefordshire in 2010 - one fifth of its previous amount.

Over the past 12 months, S&A has been developing plans to consolidate its business in order to improve sustainability and reduce local impacts. This has involved re-assessing growing needs across the county and to date S&A has reduced the area of polytunnels it operates from 350ha in 2007 to 162ha in 2009.

It has taken the decision to explore selling some or all of Brierley Court Farm, with the intention of leasing back or retaining the amount of land required to support the reduced amount of soft fruit growing.

The revised plan will bring a number of additional benefits, including a reduction in workers' accommodation needed at Brierley from a capacity for 1,000 people to 500; further reduction in visual impact as a result of fewer polytunnels; fewer vehicles on local roads; the ability to lay out the site to suit the surrounding landscape; increased sustainable water usage; and more efficient operations.

Frank Green, managing director of S&A, said: “Since becoming involved at S&A, I have seen what a strong company S&A is, the fantastic products that it offers and the important role it plays in the local economy.

“However, having listened carefully to what local people have to say, it seems that it is the scale of our operations in the county that is the main concern. For this reason, we want to further consolidate our activities in Herefordshire, to enhance sustainability of the business and meet the expectations of local people. This has resulted in us reviewing our planning applications and taking the decision to significantly reduce the scale of our operations at Brierley.

“Although a reduced scale of operations in Herefordshire brings a number of benefits, it does have inevitable implications regarding the number of employees we need. We will shortly be consulting with our staff on this matter and will be entering into discussions regarding redundancies.”

S&A will be holding an informal public exhibition ‘drop in’ session in the local area over coming weeks to give people the opportunity to learn more about revised plans for Brierley. Details will be made public as soon as they are available.

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