A FACTORY boss says a £93million deal to buy British Salt will help safeguard the future of manufacturing in Middlewich.
Brunner Mond in Northwich completed its deal to acquire the Booth Lane business last Wednesday.
Martin Ashcroft, managing director of Brunner Mond, spoke to the Guardian about the major plans.“I’m a huge believer in manufacturing in the UK,” said the 41-year-old.
“It’s not the easiest place to manufacture but our commitment is absolutely clear - to make successful manufacturing companies in the UK and Cheshire.
“That’s the driver behind a lot of what we do. We want to secure jobs in the future.”
British Salt has become part of India’s Tata Group - a move which Martin says will help protect Middlewich jobs.
This will be welcome news for residents after the Ideal Standard factory announced it is to close with a loss of almost 250 jobs.
Martin, who lives in Stretton, added: “The reason Tata Group is in business is it looks a long way ahead.
“They’re constantly challenging us - where can we expand? Where can we invest?
“British Salt certainly sees this as a positive step as we’re a long term investor.
“We’ve had a lot of owners in the past who looked at windows of investment of three or four years - Tata looks 10 to 15 years ahead.”
But Martin admitted that a small number of job losses are inevitable.
A number of redundancies are expected as some services could be shared between the two businesses.
Martin said: “No sensible company would rule out the opportunity to make cost savings where it makes sense to do so.
“But we can’t pick up the factory and bring it here. We haven’t bought the business to reduce and constrict it - quite the opposite.”
British Salt bosses are currently in favour of plans to build an incinerator in Middlewich.
This is because if Covanta’s plans are approved a pipeline from the waste plant would provide energy for the factory.
Brunner Mond also has plans to build an energy-from-waste plant.
Both plans have sparked a great deal of controversy in Cheshire.
But Martin said: “The Government and the EU make it clear we need to cut our reliance on fossil fuels.
“If we don’t, prices of fossil fuels will continue to rise well above inflation.
“If we don’t address this issue we’ll have serious competitiveness issues in the next five to 10 years.”
Martin also hopes Brunner Mond’s successful apprentice scheme could work at British Salt.
It is a scheme close to his heart as he started as a scientist with the company in 1994 and worked his way up.
“We’re proud we offer young people here skilled jobs,” he added.
“People don’t think these kind of jobs exist anymore but these products are needed on a day-to-day basis.”
