Yorkshire strawberry grower Makins, which supplies soft-fruit to Morrisons and Aldi as well as Michelin-starred restaurants, has applied to Leeds City Council to continue housing seasonal workers in 84 static caravans at Sturton Grange Farm in Micklefield, near Garforth.
In the application, the company, which also runs Annabel’s Deliciously British food brand, said it requires space for up to 325 workers during peak season in June each year, with staff employed for picking, irrigation and planting. It pointed out that many workers arrive in the UK under the Seasonal Worker visa scheme and stay for about six months, and a large proportion are students studying English or farming.
Permission to house workers on site was first granted by the council in 2009 as a time-limited measure, as the location is classified as greenbelt land, meaning that the accommodation is classed as inappropriate development under planning rules. Makins said that the use of caravans is necessary to support production and the supply of homegrown strawberries to UK supermarkets at a time of increasing demand. ‘The labour requirements for the farm cannot be satisfied from the UK labour market as UK workers do not, on the whole, like doing temporary work, whereas foreign workers are happy to do so’, the company said. This is a pattern repeated across the country throughout the agricultural and horticultural industries.
‘The ability to grow soft-fruit in this country reduces the reliance on importing the same from Europe and beyond. The key to the continued success of the business is the well-managed and well-organised workforce located on site’. Makins argued that its housing proposal, ‘continues to represent a very special circumstance. The caravans are required to ensure that a horticultural enterprise continues to grow, and because there are no alternatives to the use of caravans in this location’.
