News story

5th February 2001

Help for Dairy Crest workers

Following a constructive meeting today with Dairy Crest managers at Thornbury, Northavon MP Steve Webb has pledged to help the company in its efforts to secure the future of the 85 people currently employed at the company’s Thornbury plant. In a meeting with General Manager Graham Osborne and Operations Manager Andy Crabtree, Steve Webb was told that the company was keen to retain as many as possible of the existing workforce by transferring them to the Severnside plant at Stonehouse. As part of this, employees will be offered coach trips to see the plant for themselves and all will be offered one-to-one interviews to discuss their plans. However, a move to Stonehouse may not be the preferred option for some workers, and Steve Webb has agreed to assist Dairy Crest in their efforts to help people find alternative employment in the local area. As president of the South Gloucestershire Chamber of Commerce, the MP said he would seek to ensure that local businesses were aware that some of the Dairy Crest workforce would be seeking employment later in the year. He also said he would liaise with other employers in the local area who had already set up “job search” facilities following redundancies, in order to help Dairy Crest benefit from good practice already being adopted.

Steve Webb said:

“The closure of the plant at Thornbury will inevitably cause disruption and concern for a number of local residents, but I am keen to work with Dairy Crest in order to ensure that this is kept to a minimum. It was clear to me from my discussions with the company that they are keen to retain the skills of the workforce at Thornbury, albeit transferred to their operations at Stonehouse. But for those for whom a move to Stonehouse is not appropriate, I will be supporting the company in its efforts to help find alternative employment in the local area”.

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Note to editors: The Dairy Crest dairy at Thornbury is due to close by November 2001 with the loss of 85 jobs. Operations will be transferred to an expanded “super dairy” at Stonehouse in Gloucestershire.