A "brand new" Dairy looking more likely

Thursday 27 February 2020

A full rebuild of the Guernsey Dairy is looking ever more likely, according to comments made by the STSB President during this week's States meeting.

Deputy Peter Ferbrache compared the Dairy site - which recently only scored two out of five in a hygiene inspection because of the deteriorating building - to a broken cricket bat.

He revealed that the States' Trading Supervisory Board had met with Policy & Resources earlier this week to start discussions about the public business' future, and said plans would ideally be brought to the States in April.

It has been no secret that the STSB are working on plans to modernise the Dairy, but the question still remains of whether they are looking at patching up the current facilities, building a new one from scratch, or coming down somewhere in the middle.

Pictured: The States was recently rated 2/5 stars, and while Hygiene Standards said the product itself was still safe, it wasn't the first time it has achieved this rating.

Responding to a question from Deputy John Gollop about whether a "brand new" facility was needed, Deputy Ferbrache said: "you can only score runs with a broken bat up to a certain time, and that is where the Dairy is now. They are working with equipment that is, to use a local phrase, clapped out.

"It needs major capital investment." 

In his update speech to the States, Deputy Ferbrache explained that all of the issues with the Dairy stemmed back to lacking infrastructure investments in the past, leading to a backlog of essential maintenance. 

Pictured: If a new dairy is built, will the level of milk production need changing? 

He said they had met with P&R - the holders of the States' purse strings - to discuss resolutions.

"It was a constructive meeting at the early stages of discussions, [the issue] is high on our agenda, and so far there has been constructive dialogue."

Deputy Neil Inder asked about the future for cow farmers in Guernsey. Would the industry need to be rescaled?

Deputy Ferbrache said when they brought the policy letter to the States, they would ask the assembly to reaffirm their commitment to keeping the countryside a place for cows, but he also pointed out that came at a cost.

"We are looking at alternative markets, and we are speaking to farmers," he said, "we are doing everything we can to address the issues [the Dairy is facing]." 

Pictured top: Deputy Peter Ferbrache.