DAYS after submitting plans to double the size of its Heathfield factory, BCT chairman Konrad Goess-Saurau has made a heartfelt plea to planners and politicians for a 'common sense' approach. The award-winning company wants to add an extra 11,000 sq m, which it claims is vital to its survival. Part of the package includes 100-110 homes, to finance the expansion. A third would be designated as affordable homes, reserved for BCT employees through a special housing trust. BCT is currently in talks with Teignbridge Council to have the site redesignated as mixed use in the Local Development Framework, due to be published early next year. It will only be able to apply for the new housing if and when it wins this redesignation. 'Ever since we started the business we have just found it so difficult to recruit and hold good staff, and housing is a big issue,' said Mr Goess-Saurau. He said that hundreds of ceramics factories were opening in China and there was intense competition from Brazil and other emerging economies. Currently BCT produces 3.1m sq m a year, which it hopes to increase to 8m sq m. 'The 800 redundancies at Imerys was no surprise. The ceramics industry is dying and you can't have a raw material extraction industry without a ceramics industry. We will definitely be one of the largest clients of WBB and they need it because there are only certain products they can export. It's not only our jobs and our industry, it is much wider ranging than that. You must get bigger and bigger or you die. It is as black and white as that. One of the stumbling blocks has been the presence of three rare penny royal plant colonies on site. Mr Goess-Saurau said they have employed a botanist to monitor the plants for three years and have followed his advice. 'We don't want to eliminate the penny royal, in fact it needs open space. It will be left in an open village green concept. At the moment it is smothered by gorse. The frustrating thing is that it is not gorse on the side of Dartmoor but in an old refilled quarry. Sometimes it is a real struggle to understand the priorities of planners and politicians.' The planned factory extension would be built with the latest environmental controls with a target of improving energy efficiency by 20 per cent.' An integral part of the plan is a multi-use indoor youth activity centre with skate boarding facilities, which has won strong support from Devon Youth Services and Moorskating. Mr Goess-Saurau said that an earlier design – The Loop – had been rejected by planners at the feasibility stage as being too large. A new design was currently being developed and would be unveiled within a week or so. 'The company's future is with the local people and local community. The company is part of the community. We've never asked for a penny of grant or subsidy – all we are after is support and understanding. I hope we will get some common sense,' he said.
