Cheale Meats expansion approved
A Brentwood slaughterhouse is to be built on green belt land after the local council approved the proposal.
West Horndon-based Cheale Meats which currently supplies around 400 tonnes of meat per week to mainland Europe and other worldwide destinations, and 300 tonnes per week for the UK market, says the expansion would enable a ‘significant increase’ in current production for UK wholesale.
It had argued that the additional 5,055sqm of floorspace, provided across three separate buildings being planned in the green belt, constitutes very special circumstances, particularly by protecting jobs.
It says the plans will secure the long-term future of the 120 jobs currently existing on site, as well as creating as many as 43 new positions.
The development will also include a combined heat and power (CHP) plant providing energy for the whole facility and which Cheale Meats says could reduce carbon emissions by up to 30 per cent.
Cheale Meats says the last two years have presented the business with unprecedented stress on the business – notably from the pandemic while energy costs for the operation of the abattoir tripled from £35,000 per month in January 2021 to £106,000 per month in February 2022 alone.
Piers Meyler / Yellow Advertiser
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