A series of offers of financial support from Invest NI have been put to the previous and current owners of the former Armaghdown creameries in Banbridge.

In May 2016, Lakeland Dairies acquired the Fane Valley dairy business, and then in August 2016 announced that processing at Banbridge would move to a seasonal work pattern, putting around 70 jobs at risk. Since then, 57 staff have taken voluntary redundancy, three have been redeployed within the Lakeland Group and 10 have been retained as a skeleton staff to maintain the factory.

Answering questions in Stormont last week, Economy Minister Simon Hamilton highlighted that the Government is still keen to see the business retained within the Banbridge area.

He outlined how Invest NI (which falls within his responsibility) first made an offer of £750,000 of financial assistance in June 2014 towards a £15.6m capital investment planned by Fane Valley at the Banbridge site. Only £70,000 of the offer was ever drawn down.

Then, in August 2015, when it was announced that Lakeland and Fane Valley were in discussions to create a joint venture, Invest NI amended its offer of assistance, with a new offer made in March 2016, so that the money could be drawn by the joint venture.

With the joint venture subsequently falling by the wayside and the business sold to Lakeland, officials from Invest NI met with management from Lakeland and told them that they were open to amending the financial offer again to suit the new arrangement.

However, by August, Lakeland had announced the business was to close over the winter months. That prompted a meeting between Minister Hamilton and Lakeland chief executive, Michael Hanley.

“I made it clear to him directly face to face that we would be prepared to look at the offer again, do whatever was required, and perhaps even enhance the support if it would secure employment at the Banbridge plant,” Minister Hamilton told MLAs last week.

However, he said that he did not receive a favourable response on this occasion, not least because the scale of the investment required at Banbridge “far exceeds what the group is prepared to engage in”.

Closed

It was also put to the minister last week that some in the local area believe that the Banbridge plant will remain closed, despite the original plans to move to seasonal working. “That is not something that I have heard, and it is certainly not what I have heard directly from the company,” Minister Hamilton responded.