POTENTIAL improvements at Dairy Crest were discussed at the recent meeting of Camelford Town Council.

Representatives from St Austell-based planning consultants, Situ8, along with a representative from the factory, attended the meeting on Thursday, August 2, to speak in the public participation section of the meeting about the plans.

Dairy Crest is looking for a full upgrade to the creamery and waste water plant.

Angela Warwick from Situ8 explained the plans were in the early stages, but there is a pre-app with Cornwall Council. They have also met with Davidstow Parish Council.

Nigel Mackey, project manager told the council that Davidstow creamery produces Cathedral City cheese, adding: “It’s taken Dairy Crest 20 years to develop the brand to where it is now. We want to take that plan and grow it.”

He said there is a three-pronged approach — expansion, reliability and self sufficiency

He said from the outside there will be little difference, but a lot of the money they are spending will be inside the existing envelope of the building.

The current waste water plant is a big user of electricity, so they are looking at putting a solar farm on site, to create their own electricity and reduce the carbon footprint.

They currently work with around 300 local farmers, but Mr Mackey added: “We want to bring in more. Hopefully it will help to support and give security to our current and future employees.”

Ms Warwick said extensive survey work is being carried out, including ecological, typographical, noise and heritage, as well as landscape and visual impact assessments.

There are two applications, the upgrade and the solar farm.

She told the council: “We’re keen that we get some feedback from you about what your concerns are.”

Jim Holt, highways and transportation consultant with Situ8, said his job as part of the planning application is to look at the impact of the increase in scale of Dairy Crest, such as the additional traffic.

He said a positive point is that there is existing capacity in the current tankers, so they will be able to maximise these to get more milk, although they are looking at around four more tankers a day.

He said there were currently around 6,500 traffic movements a day through Camelford, adding: “In terms of impact it’s quite low.”

Mr Holt said Dairy Crest is committed to paying a contribution to the Camelford bypass feasibility.

They asked for any feedback from members of the council.

Cllr Rob Rotchell, also Cornwall Councillor for Camelford, said: “The concern also would be around traffic onto and off the site so not just traffic flow through the town but any increase in traffic on the site. The junction of the A39/A395 would need looking at and also the lane that takes you to the front of the factory.”

Mr Holt said that as part of the PPA (Planning Performance Assessment) with Cornwall Council, he has met with highway officers and to show that certain vehicles can make the manoeuvres.

Cllr Andy Shaw asked what the volume of tonnage would be following the expansion, and was told the aim is to increase it from 52,000 to 78,000.

Cllr Stephen Bond highlighted the amount of wildlife in the area, and asked if any research was being done into this.

Ms Warwick said an ecology survey would be carried out. She also said they were not touching the existing hedgerows, and they would recommend extensive landscaping.

The council was told that more information on all aspects of the plans would be available at the public meeting. Information on this would be distributed when plans are put in place.