Lakeland Dairies has announced that the former Fane Valley milk processing factory at Banbridge will be switched to a ‘‘seasonal processing schedule from September onwards’’.

According to chief executive Michael Hanley, the Banbridge plant will be retained as a fully working site that operates from February/March to September. There will not be any processing of milk on the site during the autumn and winter. This is similar to the situation in Lakeland’s milk powder plant in Lough Egish and casein factory in Killeshandra.

It means that there will be redundancies for many of the 75 employees at Banbridge, as had been rumoured since Lakeland acquired the business from the Fane Valley Group. Some of these redundancies may be voluntary and there might be some job opportunities at Lakeland’s factory in Newtownards, Co Down, which specialises in added value food service products. A consultation process with staff is underway.

The seasonal closure at Banbridge means more milk from Northern Ireland being processed south of the border. That could pose problems with differing Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland schemes for farm quality assurance or with border trading arrangements following Brexit. It is possible the Brexit vote is the main reason that the site has avoided complete closure for the time being.