THE boss of the company which lost its bid to build a £56m science park in Wanborough said he was being starved of opportunities in Swindon.
Wasdell Group CEO Martin Tedham spoke to Ben Prater on BBC Radio Wiltshire and confirmed that he plans to move his company out of town because he cannot take on new contracts without the new site being built.
He denied that the threat of packing up and leaving was just a way to put pressure on the council to agree to the plans, reassured his employees and said that it would take a few years to move Wasdell.
He said: “We are very disappointed but it was fantastic last night, I really enjoyed it. The people that voted for us, thank you very much – they had me crying for all the nice things they said about us and what we brought to the town.
“We need to look at the business and grow the business, we are being starved of opportunities in Swindon now because we can’t take on new contracts. I’ve always been a business man and grown the business from nothing."
The firm had said the development would create 800 new jobs over the next two years. It already employs 650 people across three sites in the town.
Mr Tedham added: “We would hope that a lot of [employees] will move. It’s sad… I’m speaking to the employees, it does not happen overnight. If we move to Basingstoke, we have to build it and look at all those things.
"[The council] wanted us to go to appeal, they didn’t want to make the decisions, but that’s years away. Tony Smith said it would be eight to 10 years before the Honda site becomes available, I can’t wait that long, that’s the thing that’s wrong.
“Swindon is a great place – the people are great, it will grow, it’s not doom and gloom. I love Swindon, my children were born here and grew up to be Swindonians, I have good friends here and my racehorses here. I hope other businesses come to it.
“But what else can I do? We looked at 18 sites, all of them too small.
“Personally, I will be here forever. You can’t move a business like Wasdell in a year, it’s a few years down the line. My employees know me, they know my heart is looking after them and I will be reassuring them about what we must do moving forward. New jobs will come to the town, a new business will come to Swindon and these people will get jobs.”
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