Jobs Axe Falls At Nursery

The 150 staff at the Toddington Lane site were told about possible job cuts eight weeks ago, as part of a major restructuring programme within the company.

Group managing director Andrew Cooksey said: "It is a great shame. We have been on this site for 40 years, when Van Heyningen Brothers first started up."

VHB Humber's other two sites in Angmering and Runcton are continuing as normal and employers at Toddington Lane have tried to relocate as many staff to these sites as possible.

"The Toddington Lane site is not going to be closed down. The packing operation will continue, but we will cease to grow tomatoes here," added Mr Cooksey.

Three other sites in England and Wales have either been rented or sold as part of the restructuring package, including those in Kent and Humberside.

The land at the Toddington Lane site no longer being cultivated by the Van Heyningen Brothers will now be rented out to other growers, according to the company's finance director Nick Gibbons.

Developers acting on behalf of VHB Hazlewood, which has since become VHB Humber, wanted Arun District Council to allow 1,000 houses to be built on 75 hectares of land, which included the Toddington Lane site.

VHB's masterplan was submitted to the council in March 2000, to be included in the council's local plan.

Every authority is required to draw up a local plan every ten years, which sets out planning guidelines for the district. These guidelines are then used every time a planning application is submitted, to decide whether or not permission should be granted.

But VHB's proposals were thrown out by the planning inspector, who decided it had too many shortcomings.