New plastic recycling plan for former Solway Foods factory in Corby

A Chinese firm wants to turn a former food factory in Corby into a depot for recovering waste plastic.

Solway Foods in Godwin Road closed in 2014, with the loss of 900 jobs. Food Utopia bought the site but again closed the factory in 2018, making 300 people redundant.

Now a planning application has been submitted to Corby Council to develop the site in a recycling facility that will operate 24-hours-a-day. Sun International Recycling group was given permission in December to turn one of the buildings into temporary accommodation to house construction workers to build machinery to get the plant up and running.

A planning statement by the developer's planning consultant states: "The potential of new jobs in the locality is very much a positive, given that the site has stood empty since the closure of Food Utopia."

They estimate that between 70 and 80 jobs could be created.

But Northamptonshire county highways authority say that they currently cannot support the application because not enough detail has been supplied by the applicant about parking.

And Corby Council's environmental health officers say that strict conditions must be put in place to offset the effects of any gas emitted by a nearby landfill area.