Invercargill councillor calls for 'please explain' from Great South
“It’s disappointing considering the hype and what was in the regional plan which was published on the 28th of June. As a councillor I’ve had no explanations.”
An Invercargill city councillor has requested a “please explain” from Great South following news a planned plant-based milk factory will now not go ahead at Makarewa.
Great South has been working on the prospect of oat milk production for a decade.
A state-of-the-art factory, with the ability to produce 80-million litres of plant-based milk, was initially planned for Southland.
However, New Zealand Functional Foods is now planning to construct the factory elsewhere - most likely in Canterbury.
Invercargill city councillor Ian Pottinger has lodged a Notice of Motion with council CEO Michael Day and Mayor Nobby Clark asking that the council write to Great South.
Pottinger wants the council to request that a representative of Great South address the council about circumstances around the planned oat-milk factory at Makarewa now heading elsewhere.
He has requested that the Notice of Motion be included in the August 22 council meeting agenda.
The Invercargill City Council is a 48% shareholder in Great South - Southland’s regional development agency.
Great South is a 49% shareholder in New Zealand Functional Foods, the company which has now decided to build the factory elsewhere.
“It’s disappointing considering the hype and what was in the regional plan which was published on the 28th of June. As a councillor I’ve had no explanations,” Pottinger told The Tribune.
Great South’s Beyond 2025 Regional Development Plan released last month indicated the benefits to Southland would have been 100+ new jobs through the construction phase of the factory and 70 direct skilled jobs thereafter.
“I’ve asked for them to explain the events and circumstances that led to the oat milk factory being relocated out of Southland,” Pottinger said.
“I was on Venture Southland [now Great South] from 2010 to 2016, and watched this project grow.”
Mayor Clark has already backed Great South on the matter saying he respects the work that Great South has done over a long period to get the project to the point it is now.
Clark said it was great for New Zealand as a whole.
Southland District Mayor Rob Scott has also now thrown his support behind Great South.
The Southland District Council is also a 48% shareholder in Great South.
Scott used a rugby analogy which he thought helped sum up the situation.
“If we were to develop a really awesome rugby player from Southland, while he would be awesome to have in the Stags, if the All Blacks came calling for this young fella would we keep him for the Stags or would we let him go and do good for New Zealand?
“That’s what it kind of feels like for me. I’ve got full confidence in [Great South]. We’ve got a skills-based board at Great South, and I’ve got full confidence in the board and the chair to make the calls around all of this stuff.
“It’s ultimately a commercial opportunity here, that has been worked on for quite some time.”
“There are potential investors there that are looking at wider things.”
While news that the factory would now head elsewhere has attracted some “controversy” Scott said what Great South had done in the plant-based milk space should be celebrated.
Scott still felt there would be benefits for Southland in terms of the oat growers.
I am extremely disappointed to read that two Mayors in our Province are ok with the fact that Canterbury rather than Southland is going to benefit from all the hard work of the Great South team in trying to secure up to 80 new jobs in the deep South. Nowhere has anyone criticised the Great South Board. However what needs to be criticised is that the Great South Board Chairman is part of a 3 person NZFF board that made the decision to build in Canterbury rather than Makarewa and he voted in support. The reason he was on the NZFF Board in the first place was so he could represent Southlands interests. Surely if Councils are to continue to support Great South and I for one believe they should then they need to seriously consider electing a chair from our province rather than one who does not live here. That way we can be assured that the first thing the chair will do is support the province which on this occasion has been sadly lacking. I applaud Councillor Pottinger and others for ensuring that a full enquiry be made into why this unfortunate outcome has been allowed to happen.
What a load of…..we’ve ended up with milk on our face !