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UP to 1000 jobs are set to be created at High Post as a Winterslow businessman buys the Mahle Filter Systems UK factory, which is due to close next year.

Peter Yeldon acquired the site in a £12 million deal and plans to open a new industrial park accommodating a mixture of distribution and manufacturing businesses.

The news offers a ray of hope to hundreds of workers facing redundancy following the decision by German-owned Mahle to cease manufacturing in south Wiltshire towards the end of 2009.

Mr Yeldon, who owns Old Sarum Industrial Park Ltd, hopes to attract up to 40 new employers to the 20-acre site, which lies between Salisbury and Amesbury.

He plans to keep the existing Mahle factory premises and divide it up into units.


More jobs for local people


The site also has planning permission for the development of another 50,000 sq ft of industrial space, which Mr Yeldon said could bring even more jobs to the area.

"This is a very significant site which accounts for 13 per cent of south Wiltshire's industrial building space," he said.

"Depending on take-up, I would like to develop more of the site to bring even more employment opportunities.

"I was saddened to see the loss of the Mahle jobs as they have been an important employer in the area.

"My plans will not only safeguard existing employment levels but they will also create hundreds of new jobs for local people."

Around 440 jobs will go at Mahle in the next 18 months as the company, which manufactures air-filter systems for cars, runs down operations.

Production will move to other factories in Europe, including Telford in Shropshire, with some staff being offered the chance to transfer.



Similar skills


Mr Yeldon hopes that many more will be able to continue to work at High Post once the new industrial park has opened.

"My plan is for operations to start around next Christmas so there will only be a very short time between Mahle closing and the new employers moving in," he said.

"I am confident that the companies will be looking for people with similar skills and with some retraining they will be able to find jobs."

Although the list of companies interested in moving to High Post is currently confidential, Mr Yeldon says they will be manufacturing and light industrial operations with related opportunities in marketing, accountancy and sales.

He is currently in the process of applying for planning permission for the development of the site.

A former director of Salisbury City Football Club, Mr Yeldon has been involved with similar projects in the past including the acquisition of the former ColourCare site in Downton.

"As someone who lives in south Wiltshire I believe in job creation here," he said.

"This is a site with world class facilities and I hope that hundreds of people will continue to work there once the industrial park has opened."

7:00am Thursday 8th May 2008

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