Bob Dewey .

PLANNING

SUPPORTING DETAILS FOR

PROPOSED APPLICATION FOR

WAREHOUSE EXTENSION AT

SMURFIT KAPPA, MOLD BUSINESS PARK, MOLD

Background: The Welsh Government has determined that any planning application for planning permission for major extensions must undertake a pre application consultation with the Town Council, County Borough Councillor, Neighbours and the Statutory agencies.

This should provide the applicants with an opportunity listen to any concerns and to amend the scheme before a formal application is submitted to the Flintshire County Council. Further consultation will take place at that time.

The Company:

  1. Introduction

Smurfit Kappa’s Corrugated Packaging Factory in Mold was built in 1994 and as a green field site it became one of the largest corrugated plants in the UK. Over the past 20 years the business has gone through 3 ownership changes being acquired by Smurfit Kappa in 2010.

The business is tightly integrated into the local economy employing 170 people directly with 80% of those living in Mold. Indirectly the company works with many local companies as suppliers and customers. Smurfit Kappa also support a number of local community projects in schools and charities and are very keen to continue to invest in the future of the business and local community.

Having operated within its constructed capacity business growth has plateaued and as a result of this Smurfit Kappa have formulated an investment plan to expand capacity by more than 50% and significantly grow the business over the next 5 years. The pressures in the corrugated market are demanding higher economies of scale and this expansion will enable Smurfit Kappa Mold to remain competitive and operate with continued success.

We see many of our customers, both large Blue Chip FMCG and smaller local customers developing ambitious growth plans looking to their suppliers to invest for the future in support.

  1. Growth

Smurfit Kappa Mold has seen significant growth over the past few years having embarked on their growth strategy in 2014. +3% in 2015, +8% in 2016 and forecasting +5% in 2017. The forecast over the next 5 years is growth between 5% and 8% annually.

  1. Investment

Smurfit Kappa’s investment programme started in 2015 with a £5 million state of the art production line. This line has helped support the 16% growth seen since 2014. The plant is now at full capacity and a further £15 million of strategic investment has been identified in order to achieve the increase in plant capacity required.

This is expected to be phased over the next 5 years and will include:

  • A Warehouse Extension: to facilitate a higher throughput removing a bottleneck, reduce costs of off-site storage and result in a significant reduction in vehicle movements between off site warehouses and shunting to the trailer yard.
  • New Rotary Die Cut Production Line: This increases the conversion capacity and provides a wider range of products that can be produced
  • Complete replacement of the Corrugated Board Machine: Eliminates the next bottleneck facilitating a Full 50% growth
  1. Security for the future

Expanding the plant secures its competitiveness for the future, thus providing job security for the 170 staff currently employed and employment opportunity for more new employees.

Should the expansion plan prove impossible to achieve, Smurfit Kappa UK will invest in another plant in the UK to achieve the growth in capacity it requires. Although operations in Mold would continue, it would be a severe commercial disadvantage and would ultimately result in a significant threat to the long term future of the site.

The Proposal: The proposal is to rationalise the loading/unloading arrangements at the site to enable product to be transported at more suitable times and to increase efficiency of the operations.

An extension will be erected at the front of the building which will allow vehicle trailers to be parked immediately adjacent to the factory and thus vehicle movements should be reduced as the loading can take place exactly as/when required rather than in smaller batches.

The proposal is to allow the business to sustain and expand business and with additional proposed investment in new (internal) plant/machinery) should provide the site with a strong basis to continue operations in Mold for a considerable period into the future.

The Plans: These have been placed on deposit in Mold Library and can be viewed on at

Observations on the proposals should be sent in writing to:

Bob Dewey Planning, The Gables, Llanfynydd, Wrexham. Flintshire.LL115HG

not later than 10th May 2017