Background

Chipping Norton Town Council undertook a full appraisal of the town in 2003 which culminated in the publication of "A vision for a working Cotswold town". The appraisal confirmed the desire for the town to continue as a "working town" as opposed to a "sleepy Cotswold jewel" or a "rural outpost".

Over a two year period to December 2004, the Parker Knoll furniture factory firstly downsized and then closed with the eventual loss of 450 jobs. This was a very significant economic event for Chipping Norton and while the vast majority of the former employees found alternative work, many have been forced to commute out of the town on a daily basis. The District Council is working hard with other partners, including Oxfordshire County Council at both officer and member level, to progress initiatives that will help to stimulate medium and long term creation of new businesses and new jobs in the town including the work on a potential Enterprise Centre. This work must however not lose sight of the importance of retaining existing jobs in the town. There are very few private sector employers with more than 50 staff and these businesses in particular must be supported as much as possible. The economic development priorities for Chipping Norton are therefore:

CETA

CETA Ltd was formed over 12 years ago in Chipping Norton with 5 people. It has now grown into an extremely successful business employing in the region of 90 people. This makes it the second largest employer in Chipping Norton after Owen Mumford. CETA is a leading General Insurance Network providing general insurance products to over 20 IFA and mortgage networks and their members as well as to over 3000 directly authorised companies.

CETA has its own software department with programmers and web specialists who work closely with the insurance companies to provide exclusive and competitive products to their members. CETA has an expanding call centre dealing with queries from its members and their clients, and an accounts and admin section that issues insurance policies on behalf of the insurance companies.

The majority of CETA’s staff are from Chipping Norton and the surrounding villages. The company work closely with Chipping Norton School employing many teenagers in after school jobs as well as offering experience, mentoring and other associated support. CETA has established a rigorous and successful in house training programme which allows them to employ local people with little or no experience / qualifications relevant to the insurance industry and to train them up with the necessary skills for a rewarding career.

Reasons for needing to move

CETA is currently located in CETA House within Cromwell Business Park in Chipping Norton; the building comprises approximately 8,000 sq ft and is rented from Country Estates. These premises are too small for current needs and CETA is seeking a minimum of 10,000 sq ft to allow the company to take on extra staff to meet its expanding business needs.

While seeking to expand and move, the company’s two prioritised objectives are to:

However, the company has been actively seeking alternative premises within the town for the last 18 months to no avail – CETA first expressed an interest in the OCC Depot Site in January 2005. CETA is now under significant pressure to conclude their search as their current lease terminates in October 2006 and the business is physically outgrowing CETA House. Unless CETA can be sure of securing a site in Chipping Norton, it will be forced to widen its search away from the town with the potential result of large numbers of local people being forced to either commute away from Chipping Norton to work or to seek alternative employment. Both scenarios contradict the prime economic development priority of retaining existing employment in Chipping Norton.

Options investigated

CETA has exhaustively investigated all potential options for relocating within Chipping Norton:

Station Mill – options to relocate to the Station Mill building (formerly occupied by Solar Designs) were considered but discounted as the building is a very similar size to CETA House (8,276 sq ft) and therefore too small in its current state with no realistic opportunity to expand the building.

New development on Cromwell Park – CETA entered discussions with Country Estates (the owners of Cromwell Business Park) relating to a plot of land adjacent to the business park entrance that is still to be developed. Country Estates indicated that the new building will only be available leasehold and CETA wish to operate without being bound to take and pay for services that come with occupation on Cromwell Park.

Former Parker Knoll Factory – CETA employed an architect and quantity surveyor to provide sketch plans and initial costings for the development of a 10,000 sq ft office building on the former factory site. In November 2005, CETA was approached by the agent acting for a family trust that was making a bid for the whole of the employment land on the Parker Knoll site to see if they were interested in making a joint bid. Both parties agreed there were mutual advantages to a joint bid for the site and this was submitted in December 2005. Unfortunately this bid was unsuccessful in securing the site. While it is understood that the site owner’s (George Wimpey) agent is negotiating with a preferred bidder (a commercial property developer) for the whole site, there is an inevitable delay while this deal is concluded making this site an unviable option for CETA within the tight timescale they have remaining to make a decision.

OCC Highways Depot – CETA first expressed interest in the Highways Depot site in January 2005 when they commissioned a planning consultant to assess the potential of the site to accommodate a 10,000 sq ft office development. W.S. Atkins (the agents for the site at the time) registered CETA’s interest but advised that they were unable to say when they would be able to accept offers on the site while issues relating to the development of the adjacent land at Rockhill Farm were being considered.

In December 2005, CETA was advised by Mouchel Parkman that they were now in a position to market the site. CETA formed a project team including a valuer, architect, solicitor, quantity surveyor and planning consultant. A fully costed scheme including detailed drawings for a 10,000 sq ft office development, taking into account ground conditions and access costs, was put together and a bid for the site submitted in January 2006. In March 2006, CETA was advised that they were one of the 3 highest bidders but that they had been outbid by two developers who were bidding to develop the site for speculative office space. In order to make their bid more attractive, CETA has indicated that they would be prepared to provide the access to the site as well as the services which has the effect of increasing the value of their bid.

Conclusion

The Depot Site is the only potential site suitable for CETA in Chipping Norton that is available now. CETA have shown considerable commitment to finding a suitable site within the town over the last 18 months but their window of opportunity is closing fast. If CETA are unable to conclude a deal for the Depot Site, they will be forced to look away from the town for an alternative site on which to develop and expand their business. Specifically, the realistic options are Banbury, Shipston on Stour or Evesham. The relocation of CETA out of Chipping Norton would have an extremely serious impact on the town in a variety of ways including:

West Oxfordshire District Council firmly believes that the loss of further jobs from Chipping Norton and in particular the loss of a "home grown" company that is expanding with considerable momentum would be a retrograde step in the economic development of the town. The next few years will see the development of a range of exciting new projects at the north end of Chipping Norton including the development of affordable housing, the new hospital and care home and the redevelopment of the sites of the existing hospital and care home. Not only will the town of Chipping Norton benefit from these developments, but Oxfordshire County Council is well placed to receive substantial capital sums when its various land holdings are developed. It is therefore hoped that the sale price of the Depot Site will be seen in this context.

West Oxfordshire District Council understands that as public bodies we all have a role to play in safeguarding existing employment where reasonably possible and requests that the Capital Steering Group takes this and the previously outlined factors into consideration when making a final decision on the disposal of the Highways Depot site.

Barry Norton,
Leader, West Oxfordshire District Council

William Barton,
Business Development Officer, West Oxfordshire District Council

Date: 03 April, 2006

Return to TOP