A food processing business could bring more than 500 blue collar jobs to Oldham borough, the council has confirmed. Inspired Global Cuisine and Ergo could be due to move into a recently built warehouse on Lydia Becker Way, Chadderton, where it will employ between 550 to 760 employees.
Around 200 of the jobs would be available to people from the local area, according to IGC. These could go some way to plugging the employment hole left by the recent departure of Yodel from their distribution site in nearby Shaw, which saw 350 jobs lost.Speaking at a planning meeting, councillor Peter Davies welcomed a planning application that sought to expand the use of the warehouse.
Coun Davies said: “This is why we have planning. It brings employment to the area, jobs. We haven’t got the money to do all this ourselves as a council but with this coming to planning, it brings good, decent jobs, manufacturing, and whoever it is coming in, I’d like to thank them for investing in Oldham.”
IGC, who supply supermarkets such as Icelands, are looking to take over a warehouse at 369 Lydia Becker Way. The two-storey warehouse was built with the backing of Ergo in 2022 and includes more than 33,000 square metres of warehouse space and 10,000 sqm of office space, along with more than 300 car parking spaces.In an application, an IGC spokesperson wrote: “The proposed change of use will facilitate in the region of 550 jobs, almost all of which will be full time.
The application received one objection, which raised concerns about noise and smell coming from the food production site, which borders onto Radycliffe School and two residential areas.