[14 OCT 99] FINELIST
GROUP NEWS
Finelist Considers Options To MoveOne of Stratford’s biggest companies could be forced to quit
the town after clashing with the District Council over plans to relocate.
Motor components distributor Finelist, which employs over
300 staff, claims that it must now move premises to cater for the its growiing business.
The Birmingham Road-based company has explored several
options for when its current lease runs out in two years time, but has become increasingly
frustrated by the slow moving process.
Communications officer Lisa Abbotts says there is no ill
feeling between the Finelist and Stratford Council, but admits that the process of finding
suitable premises has been very slow.
"We have been looking for an alternative for over two
years now because our current premises are just not big enough for us to stay in, and
there are no further expansion opportunities.
"We would have thought that the council would be quite
accommodating and helpful to keep the company in Stratford but instead everything seems to
be taking an age.
"Finelist is a Stratford company and has been in the
town since becoming a Plc in 1991, so there is no desire to move away.
"Much of our workforce is from Stratford and we do not
want to cut those ties in any way, it is our first priority to locate to a suitable place
in the town.
"We began on our current site on one floor of one
building and we now have the whole of three buildings so it is obvious to see the way the
company is growing."
That growth is also reflected in the news that Finelist has
appointed former Coventry MP John Butcher to the company, the city’s last
Conservative member.
Mr Butcher, who was also a Minister for Industry, will join
Finelist as a non-executive director spending five days a month at their Stratford site.
Stratford District Council’s planning department was
today unavailable for comment on the issue of Finelist’s relocation.
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