Please help me TIPTREE JAM to stay in Tiptree

My spelling and grammar are getting worse - put it down to a 3 hour drive home.

What a lot of questions, I'm not sure I know all the answers, I hope to find out more when they have the public exhibition later this month.

1. If they get the go ahead from the council for the housing + factory package I am totally sure the new factory will be built just a little further from where it is now. In the 1980's the Wilkin family who started and solely owned the business, past it's ownership, in trust, to it's employees, it is not part of any other group. More about this can be found on their history pages. They have for many years supported the village in so many ways.

2. I don't know the answer to that, but I do know they will do everything they possibly can to stay in the village. I'm sure this has been considered/offered.

3. Yes the new factory would have to be built before the old one is pulled down (some parts of the old factory may be listed and remain I suspect.) Tiptree jam is wholly mad e from fresh fruit, so it has to be a seasonal on going process, to pull down the old factory (their is only one factory) before the new one is ready would be impossible.

FYI, the existing factory is right at the edge of the village, their is already housing adjacent to it.

I like question 3. In my opinion, the most important one.

I'm all for traditional companies carrying on where they began and providing local employment and Tiptree jam is lovely, but I don't feel it is a simple black and white issue.

I had a look at the Tiptree website and their facebook page and their questionnaire. There is not much information but I surmise that Tiptree Jams want to raise the funds to build a new factory by building (and presumably selling) houses on the site where their current factory now is. There are several questions that spring to mind about this.

1. Is there any guarantee that the new factory would be built at Tiptree? Think Cadbury — promises broken, or so it seems.

2. Would the company be willing to speed up the process by offering to pay for some of the needed sewage development? Would seem like a good investment and perhaps further their cause.

3. Where would the jam-making happen in the meantime? Does the company anticipate having a new factory ready before the old one is pulled down?

Where would the new factory be?

The houses would be on the site of the existing factory, not a flood plain etc. atm, there is supposed to be a hold on further development due to lack of sewerage capacity, but so many small developers are managing to by-pass this restriction, it is ridiculous to prevent the only major employer in the village from building. The sewage capacity has to be upgraded soon, and we want to see Tipree Jam's application at the top of the list.

Hello Pompa I used to live in Witham just down the road from tiptree and enjoyed many an afternoon tea in their tearoom plus pick your own strawberrries in Tiptree. As you say the jam factory is a local institution and the council are being very difficult over a straightforward matter. it is a nice country area but its not a National park or anything like that and employment round their is not exactly plentiful so yes I will sign the petition. Good Luck

We can cope with the title, pompa. why is the council refusing permission to build the houses? Would they be on a flood plain, for instance, or on green belt land?

oops, was a bit too passionate, got title page totally wrong, I have asked if it can be corrected, should read "Please help TIPTREE JAM to stay in Tiptree"