Work almost finished on £17m butter plant in Shropshire

The £17 million plant is being built at Muller Wiseman dairies in Shrewsbury Road, Market Drayton, and will lead to an extra 100 jobs which will be split between the plant and the firms yogurt factory.

Permission for the project was granted by Shropshire Council planning chiefs in March, with bosses at Muller Wiseman insisting the new plant would open in the autumn.

Graeme Jack, director of communications for Muller Wiseman, said: "The project is progressing well and we are near completing the construction and all the fittings.

"We are still looking at the autumn for the first commercial production of butter."

The yogurt and dessert firm has remodelled an existing bottling factory, creating a two-storey extension, and built 14 new silos to create the butter plant. Once complete it will use 90,000 tons of cream each year. It will create up to 45,000 tons of butter, making it the biggest butter plant in the country.

The mayor of Market Drayton, Councillor Tim Beckett, who works at Muller said the expansion was great news for the town.

He added the new plant could lead to employment opportunities for people who work at the Dairy Crest creamery in Crudgington near Telford after company bosses confirmed plans to close the factory.

He said: "With Dairy Crest closing its Crudgington factory, this expansion gives employment opportunities to all the employees there at a time when it's so important to keep jobs in the county.

"There are not many firms expanding and taking on employees during the recession. It's great that Muller is continuing to invest in Market Drayton and Shropshire."