A HUGE deal between Selby's biggest employer and its near neighbour will result in an environmental bonanza.

Hazlewood Grocery, which employs 650 people at its Barlby Road plant, has struck a deal with The Potter Group to store up to 7,000 pallets of raw ingredients for pickles and sauces.

The company produces 150 million bottles and jars a year of products such as cooking sauces, pickles, ketchup, brown sauce, pickled onions and beetroot.

It means that rather than use six different depots throughout the region, Hazlewood will have one right on its doorstep, saving an estimated 20,000 miles in lorry journeys each year.

The value of the contract is undisclosed, but is thought to be worth about £100,000 a year to Potter.

The efforts of Derrick Potter, head of the five depot logistics empire, to get firms to cut down on road journeys was recognised by the Princess Royal last year when she flew into The Potter Group's 62 acre site, also in Barlby Road, to officially open the Medite Container Terminal and Rosebury textile chain's national distribution centre.

These take advantage of the depot's rail freight spur which has formed part of a £8 million investment there over the past five years.

The Princess was impressed in the same way as judges of the 2002 Evening Press Business of the Year, who awarded the firm the Environmental Businesses of the Year title and declared Mr Potter the Business Personality of the Year.

Hazlewood ingredients, including seeds, tomatoes, herbs and spices will be stored in dedicated food grade standard units which form part of Potter's 490,000 sq ft of warehousing at Selby and will be fully equipped with modern materials handling equipment and the latest IT stock management systems.

Finished products will continue to be sent out to warehouses run by the likes of Tesco and Sainsburys.

David Price, Hazlewood Grocery's supply chain director, said: "This is a marriage made in heaven. We will be saving on 20,000 miles of journeys for our lorries and all that means in fuel and maintenance costs."

Largely due to the needs of other divisions within the parent Greencore Group, Hazlewood has stored its materials at depots near Howden, in Lincolnshire and Riccall.

"But now we are using one depot only and I can see it from my window," he said.

Updated: 10:44 Friday, July 09, 2004