OWEN MUMFORD NEW EXTENSION

WHAT CAN JUSTIFY THIS EYESORE

For the first time this year, the brilliant sunshine drew me to admire the view from the big bay window in my Grade 2 listed house in the beautiful Chippy Conservation area overlooking the nearby hills in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. While my back has been turned this winter a huge sprawling building of unspeakable ugliness has appeared. It is truly awful. This is the Owen Mumford factory extension. I rang a friend in Cross Leys who has an even better view of the eyesore. He said people down there were absolutely furious. How could this have possibly happened

The original Planning Officer report said...."Due to levels, roadside vegetation and the presence of the existing factory the proposed extension will not be readily apparent in views from Worcester Road. However, your officers do acknowledge that the extension will be visible in longer distance views from the south across the valley (Cross Leys, New Street Car Park, Tilsley Road and Churchill Road). Your officers do not consider that the extension will, when seen in the context of the existing factory and against the backdrop of rising ground, be intrusive in these distant views". What a laugh! If this building is not intrusive then what does the word mean. There was much discussion and eventually a landscape Plan was produced with schemes for planting. When will these plans be implemented Will any of these ghastly buildings be screened by trees - and how soon

There's another slight worry which is that perhaps Chippy's interests as a town may not have been adequately represented through the Planning discussions. Both Hilary Biles and Mike Howes quite properly absented themselves from all the meetings because they knew the landowner involved - Edwyn Stobart (local Tory bigwig). But that left Chippy without a voice at the table. Did the town get the best deal

Policy is that there should not be major commercial development in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty �Major development should not take place in these designated areas, except in exceptional circumstances". In Owen Mumford's case the exceptional circumstance was their promise to produce 80-100 new jobs at the Primsdown site. Remember that the application for this extension was made immediately following the closure of Parker Knoll and the loss of 400 jobs. There were (and still are) huge worries about new job creation in the town. Well we now need to make sure that the planners police that promise of new jobs. If we are now stuck with this eyesore let's at least make sure the pay back is as promised. There are worrying stories about ever-increasing numbers of immigrant workers at Owen Mumford. Even worse are rumours that this new extension will house fully-automated processes that require virtually no workers. The least we expect for having our view ruined is 80 new well-paid jobs for local Chippy workers. Otherwise the Planners will have let us down again - just as they have over their complete failure so far to get the 5 acres of "employment" land at Parker Knoll developed with industrial units.
But for goodness sake can we please start planting loads of well-grown trees immediately in the hope that this monstrosity can at least be partially hidden.

David Cameron Opens Owen Mumford's
Expanded Manufacturing Facility

David Cameron opened an extended manufacturing facility in Chipping Norton, for medical device company, Owen Mumford. He unveiled a plaque at Owen Mumford's Chipping Norton site on Friday 25 May. Owen Mumford is a family owned company that has over fifty years' experience as a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of medical devices. Healthcare professionals and consumers worldwide use these devices.

At its Cotswold division in Chipping Norton, Owen Mumford moulds, assembles and packs automatic injection devices, which patients use to administer pharmaceutical product from pre-filled syringes or cartridges, for the treatment of chronic or degenerative conditions, such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

A growth in the number of medical conditions which are self managed by the patient, by self-injecting medication using bespoke autoinjector and pen technology, has led to an increased demand for the type of medical devices produced by Owen Mumford. Owen Mumford manufactures a range of its own branded products for hospitals, clinics and pharmacies, as well as developing products on behalf of pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies.

The new facility will more than double the existing space available for the manufacture of drug delivery devices and reusable lancing devices. The site will also feature a class 9 clean room environment and cold chain management facility, for the manufacture of drug device combination products. A significant part of the new space will be devoted to fully automated assembly equipment, for high speed, high volume manufacture of new devices.

At the opening, Adam Mumford, Managing Director of Owen Mumford, and Martyn Young, General Manager of Owen Mumford's Cotswold Division, were on hand to welcome guests and outline the company's commitment to its employees and the local community in Chipping Norton.

Commenting on the company's expansion, Adam Mumford, Managing Director of Owen Mumford, said: "As a successful and growing business, this expanded site will enable us to produce more new products and greater volumes, to meet the increased demand from patients, healthcare professionals and pharmaceutical and diagnostic partners. This state of the art facility further cements our position as a world leader in the production of auto injectors and allows for further expansion in the future."