One North East Helps Family Dairy Farm Create More Jobs And Expand

by One North East - 04/02/2010

"A dairy farm has received funding to expand its business, creating jobs and strengthening the region’s dairy supply chain."

One North East’s Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) has approved over £120,000 to help Lanchester Dairies Limited based at Upper House Farm, in Lanchester, County Durham, increase its production, delivery and storage capacity.
Lanchester originally took on extra work following the closure of the Dairy Farmers of Britain in Blaydon last year in order to ensure the supply chain did not collapse.

As a result their business has gone from strength to strength and eight new skilled jobs are being created with further job creation expected within the next four years.

There are seven stages to the project of investment including buying two finished Milk Tanks that will double the existing holding capacity as well as buying a new Foss milk tester. This will allow testing through one machine rather than two existing machines, reducing energy and increasing efficiency with the machine running four times faster than existing resources.

An upgraded air system will also allow greater productivity reducing energy consumption by up to 35% and creating a more environmentally friendly production process.

Adrian Sherwood, RDPE Manager at One North East, said: “This investment will place Lanchester Dairies in a stronger position with an improved production plant and infrastructure, allowing them to grow as a business boosting local employment and strengthening the North East’s supply chain.”

Lanchester Dairies was established in 1992 and is a family owned business supplying milk in the North East and Cumbria, currently supplying 460,000 litres of milk to its customer base including traditional milk rounds, supermarkets, food service outlets and care homes.

During 2007 Lanchester Dairies became the regional supply hub for the 21 Asda stores in the North East, providing an invaluable service enabling start up and small food producers in the region to sell their products onto the retailers.

Chairman of Lanchester Dairies Geoffrey Austin, said: “This investment from RDPE is a great boost to our business helping us improve infrastructure, helping us to regain contracts which were previously lost, helping secure employment in the region, keeping milk production local and minimising food miles used by dairy products in the North East.”

It is the second dairy farm in the region to receive funding through RDPE recently with Rock Farm Dairies in Wheatley Hill, County Durham, receiving support to increase its capacity from 50,000 litres to 150,000 litres per day and recruiting 16 people who were made redundant at the Blaydon site last year.

Through the Landskills North East project, RDPE also supported 22 farmers to attend the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers’ Dairy Event and Livestock Show last year to take advantage of the seminars and workshops on offer.

More Details: http://thegovmonitor.com/world_news/britain/one-north-east-helps-family-dairy-farm-create-more-jobs-and-expand-22939.html