Many people in the town are concerned about the proposed Arla Dairy plant on the A41 at Aston Clinton. Some are worried about the plant itself but most are worried about the traffic. However, I suspect everyone welcomes the much needed jobs that this plant could bring if it is built. So, the Town Council asked for a meeting with Arla representatives to discuss the issues.

On Tuesday 25th Jan 2011 myself & Cllr Sherwell from Bedgrove, Cllr Patrick & Cllr Webster from Oakfield and other Town Councillors met with representatives from Arla. As a group of Town Councillors our main concern was and still is the traffic issue. Our starting point was that rather than push 55% or so of their lorries through the town’s congested polluted road network, the % of Arla lorries using the town should be substantially reduced and more of their lorries should instead use the M25 to get to their destinations.

We then moved on to discuss the pinch points in the town, and where improvements should be made. The obvious one for residents of Bedgrove and Oakfield is the junction of King Edward Ave, Tring Road & Oakfield Road, this junction as we know is congested and polluted. We made this point loud and clear to Arla and I’m very hopeful that our concerns will be reflected in the planning application. Other locations were also discussed and we are similarly hopeful that these will be addressed when the application is actually submitted.

We were also concerned as to how Arla proposed to guarantee that their lorries won’t wander off of their agreed routes and annoy residents in suburban Aylesbury and the surrounding villages. Well, it turns out that over 90% of the lorries will be owned by Arla, they will have tracking devices fitted, and drivers (virtually all employed directly by Arla) will have to follow the route set by Arla, This isn’t an infallible idea, but it will give them the ability to trace any drivers who deviate from the agreed routes and take disciplinary action. I don’t see that there is much more that the company could do to keep the lorries where they should be.

The scheme looks to me (at the moment that is) to be pretty well thought out, I do hope that the provision of transport for staff at shift changeovers is included in the planning application, and that all the facilities are put into place to allow staff to cycle to the site, the possibility of an off road cycle/walking route to the site using the canal could also be included, but I do understand that would involve British Waterways involvement.

Of course, the most important issue to residents of Aylesbury is Jobs. We were told that the plant will bring 682 jobs to the area, 90% of those will be new jobs, the remaining 10% will be staff brought in from other Arla plants This is new investment, Arla stated that they were not shutting other plants to move to Aylesbury.

Now I know that some of you may be thinking “They would say that, wouldn’t they” but this meeting has taken place before the actual planning application has been submitted, all at the meeting seemed to want to make the best job, and hopefully the application will take full account of our concerns, and Arla can come to Aylesbury and bring the jobs we are so desperate for, but not become a problem for residents.

Your local Liberal Democrat Team will continue to stay in touch with all parties at all stages of the process, and report back to you regularly as things develop and change. Please contact me or any of the Lib Dem team if you want to have your say on this very important issue.

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