"IT'S not too late to save British Sugar."

That was the message today from York's MP after the devastating news that the historic plant is to become the city's latest manufacturing casualty.

Planners have been urged by Hugh Bayley to save York's British Sugar factory and more than 100 jobs by blocking any bid to cash in on York's housing boom.

The factory, which opened in 1926, is set to shut at the end of the next winter beet processing season, with the loss of 102 permanent jobs and another 40 seasonal employees.

The bombshell announcement, which follows changes in EU quotas, comes only months after Nestl Rowntree announced more than 230 York redundancies and less than a year after the closure of Terry's chocolate factory.

"It's devastation for York once again," said union leader John Kirk today. "Once again, it's highly-qualified, highly-paid jobs that are going. People will be devastated by the announcement I certainly am. It's a body-blow for York."

One dismayed factory worker said: "The younger workers are gutted because they've all got mortgages to pay."

The decision also comes as a major blow to about 1,500 Yorkshire beet growers, who would face a long haul to the nearest of the company's four remaining factories, in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

York MP Hugh Bayley today claimed the company was apparently trying to make a windfall profit by cashing in on York's high land values, and called for action to stop this by City of York Council.

"I suspect British Sugar is hoping to make a windfall profit from selling the site for housing," he said.

"I want the council to send out a clear signal that it will not grant planning permission for housing or hotels, and that the site must be retained for industrial use."

The MP revealed that during previous discussions with British Sugar, he had been led to believe that the 100-acre York site was safe from closure, because it was the company's most northerly factory, and served beet growers from across Yorkshire. "I am very surprised by this decision."

However, council leader Steve Galloway said that the authority was not able to use the threat of withholding planning permission as a "weapon" to force a third party into an action.

"We are not allowed to pre-judge a planning application," he said.

"However, I am confident that we will be able to negotiate a planning brief under which employment would be a significant part of activities on the site."

Asked whether such a brief could not demand manufacturing employment, he said this could just end up as a "cosmetic exercise" if there were no manufacturing companies wanting to come to York. "We do not have subsidies available to attract such employers," he said.

British Sugar strongly denied that the decision to shut the York factory had any connection with land values.

A spokesman said it had instead been taken because of difficulties it had been experiencing in obtaining sufficient sugar beet to keep the factory going, and reflected poorer crop yields in the north of England. He declined to comment on Mr Bayley's claims that managers had given him the impression the York factory was safe.


History of the York site

1926: The Anglo-Scottish Beet Sugar Corporation opens its base on what was then prime land central to the North Yorkshire farming community.

1936: The company is absorbed into the new British Sugar Corporation.

1970: The BSC announces that its Selby factory is to close in 1974, as part of a national reorganisation programme. The National Farmers' Union protests, but the firm says increased production at the York plant will more than cover that lost at Selby.

1980s: The firm floats on the stock exchange, before being bought by Berisford International.

1991: The operation is acquired by Associated British Foods.

1994: The factory reports a record output of 883 tonnes of sugar in one day.

2006: British Sugar announces the York plant is to close, with the loss of 102 permanent jobs.


GAVIN AITCHISON asked residents in Plantation Drive and Langholme Drive about the closure of the factory.

Adrian Spendlow, 52, said: "It's a loss of a lot of work in York and it's a shame to have that happen. On what should happen next I'm in two minds. York is getting filled up by roads and houses. Any chance to see the environment a bit more green, I would jump at, so I would put some public resource there for people."

Andy Duckitt, 37, said: "They should keep it industrial for jobs, most definitely, but the smell of the sugar beet I will not miss.

"To see the back end of that will be nice. But certainly keep it industrial. I had heard it was maybe closing last year, so it's no great shock."

Lucy Mainprize, 26: "What about all the local people losing their jobs? They should stay here where it means a lot to us. It should not be taken away. I am said to see the jobs go, because they have a lot of people being made redundant. I have lived here all my life, so I am used to the smell."

Stanley Garbutt, 85: "It's a pity it's having to close because I do not know how it will affect the sugar beet farming business.

" It's never been any nuisance to us. Very occasionally you get a bit of smoke for a short bit of the year, but we have never been that worried by the smell."