News
A butchery has a bright new future thanks to a grant that will allow the business to continue maturing over the coming years.
Two jobs have been saved and six new posts created at HDV Foods, which deals in wholesale butchery and storage for the meat industry.
The £240,000 funding comes from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) and will pay for a new 20,000 sq ft cold store and blast freezer.
The meat storage capacity at the current premises in West Auckland is at a maximum preventing the availability of local storage and processing of animal carcasses at peak periods. This leads to the transportation of the carcasses to other storage facilities outside the area, increasing transport and distribution costs as well as food miles.
The funding will allow the business to place a stronger emphasis on sourcing livestock direct from farms, slaughtering locally and processing on site with more modern, efficient and added value processes.
HDV Foods was formed in 2000 by three directors, Stephen and Suzzanne Speed and George Scott who have all been involved in the meat industry for the whole of their working lives.
Mr Speed said: “If we hadn’t received the RDPE funding we would have been forced to close the business down but the money to pay for the cold store will mean that we can expand the business and benefit the region.
“We strongly wish to increase the amount of processing done within the business so that it will allow the meat to be sourced from farms, utilising local abattoirs and give traceability back to the source. This in turn will provide greater control over product quality and reduce the carbon foot print as the processing will be closer to the farmer, thus helping to increase margins.”
Adrian Sherwood, RDPE Manager at One North East, said: “The funding will allow HDV Foods to expand its business, secure the positions of those that already work there and also help build a stronger, more profitable regional food supply chain, whilst reducing the carbon footprint.
“Farmers in the region will also benefit from a better price for their produce at times when there is a greater need for it as well as improving margins through lower transport and distribution costs.”
The Rural Development Programme for England 2007-2013 is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union, with the aim of delivering targeted support to rural businesses and communities. It is managed in North East England by One North East, Natural England and the Forestry Commission.
The RDPE investment being managed by One North East combines larger projects to help many businesses in different sectors of the rural economy - including bioenergy and land-based skills, and projects adding value to agricultural and forestry products - with smaller investments to help individual businesses to start-up, grow or diversify, and support to develop more sustainable rural communities.
RDPE is part of Solutions for Business, the Government’s package of publicly funded support products offering help to companies to start, grow and succeed. Solutions for Business makes it easier for companies to get the advice and assistance that they need.
For further information on the full package of support, visit www.businesslink.gov.uk/northeast.or call Tel: 0845 600 9006.
For more information on RDPE in North East England, visit: www.rdpenortheast.co.uk
For more information on RDPE, visit:
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/rurdev/index_en.htm
http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/rdpe/index.htm
Ends.
For more information, contact Alison Laggan (press office) on 0191 229 6613 or email alison.laggan@onenortheast.co.uk
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