A large van manufacturer in Devon has said that businesses may be forced out of the area if they cannot be accommodated.
Land is needed in the area, and that's why the managing director of Trucksmith Ltd, Dan Trebble, is welcoming plans to expand the business park in Willand where the company is based.
Mid Devon District Council is considering a planning application for 388,000 sqft of employment land, as well as storage areas parking, and public open space and amenities,
Documents submitted state that 1,000 new jobs could be created and that the expansion is needed because there is high demand for commercial floor space, the current accommodation is fully let, and the delivery of new business premises is critical to the continued success of the business park.
Mr Trebble explained: “If Hitchcocks Business Park wasn’t able to develop and expand, it means I’d have to look elsewhere.
“Whether that is Crediton, Tiverton or Cullompton or whether that is another location up in Cannock or somewhere, it won’t be as efficient.
“What I’m trying to do is what my family have done for the last 34 years and make things here and to compete on a European level, you have to do it efficiently. We have invested around £4million on the infrastructure of this site over the last four years. It’s difficult to spread that across the country, and it doesn’t work.
“If this site weren’t able to expand, it would have a detrimental effect and cause me to be perhaps looking elsewhere for our next round of development which I do not want to do.”
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Trucksmith Ltd was founded by Dan’s parents Brian and Liz in 1985 at their family home in Silverton in a converted garage. They then moved to a started unit on the Kingsmill Industrial Estate in Cullompton before owning their building there.
“We then started working with national manufacturers, Renault 海角视频, Vauxhall, Ford, Toyota 海角视频, people like,” Dan said. “The thing grew, and in around 2005, we found ourselves in a difficult position.
“We found ourselves with two or three sites dotted around Willand and Cullompton, which made it inefficient to manufacture and be competitive. We were struggling to find somewhere to be so we spoke with Mid Devon District Council who were helpful, but it took quite a long time to find somewhere.
“We got to the point where we were seriously considering moving the business out of the South West and into the West Midlands which from my perspective meant that myself, my parents, my children, would all need to move. On top of that, you have our workforce which we’d established and at that point was about 40 skilled people would be lost because the majority wouldn’t have moved with us.
“Happily, Hitchcocks came along who created a facility specifically here to suit our business, which has allowed us to grow. Today we employ more than 100 people.”
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However, opponents to the scheme have launched a ‘Stop Hitchcocks Expansion’ petition which has been signed by more than 600 people online.
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The petition says: “The plan stands in stark contrast to county and national policies to avoid building on Greenfield land and contrasts bluntly to recent promises of working towards a zero-emissions economy.”
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