350 jobs hope at Telford chicken firm
Nearly 350 jobs will be created if major plans to extend a chicken factory in Telford get the go-ahead, it was revealed today.
Nearly 350 jobs will be created if major plans to extend a chicken factory in Telford get the go-ahead, it was revealed today.
Faccenda Group already employs 453 workers at its site on Hortonwood Industrial Estate, but that will increase to 800 under the proposals.
Planning officers at Telford & Wrekin Council are recommending the plans be approved and say it will provide a huge boost to Telford's 'flagging economy'.
The application is to expand the factory in size with a 145,205 square foot extension at the side of its current building on Hortonwood 60.
Workers at the Telford factory portion and pack chicken for supermarkets and the catering industry. From Telford, chicken portions are currently dispatched to another Faccenda factory in Dudley, before the meat returns to Telford for final packaging.
Bosses have said the purpose of the new extension is to integrate the work carried out in Dudley with its facility in Telford.
The company has said the scheme will make its business 'more efficient and also more sustainable'.
A decision on the application will be made during Telford & Wrekin Council's Plans Board meeting on January 18.
In a report to the board, officers said: "The development would also help to provide 347 new jobs in Telford thus providing a welcome boost to the flagging economy."
Hadley & Leegomery Parish Council has said it has no objections to the scheme and no members of the public have objected to planners.
The company said it also plans to use modern technology to reduce noise at the site.
The report added: "Noise will be minimised by the introduction of electricity points in this area so that refrigeration lorries do not need to have diesel engines left running as they do at the moment."
Faccenda is privately-owned and has been selling chicken products in the UK for more than 40 years.
It was established by Robin Faccenda in 1962 and currently employs 1,700 people across the UK in hatcheries, farms, feed mills and processing plants and supplies to major supermarket chains.