THE new �5million abattoir being developed by the C&K Group in Suffolk will be opening for business on August 2, it had been confirmed.

Following the closure of eight abattoirs in the region over the past 10 years, the investment is widely seen as crucial to the future of the East Anglia livestock and meat production sector.

The new 40,000 sq ft facility, which has been part-funded by the East of England Development Agency, is to be opened alongside the current C&K Meats plant in Eye and will create around 35 new jobs.

It will operate under the Lamberts the Abattoir name, with the C&K Group, formed by brothers Chris and Kevin Burrows in 1994, having acquired the long-establshed Lamberts business at Earsham, near Bungay, in 2000.

The Earsham facility is out-dated and, were it to have lost its licence and closed as well, the livestock sector would have been further damaged.

Current production at the existing Earsham site is expected to nearly double by 2012 at the new site, and the current workforce of 55 is expected to rise to 90. In revenue terms, capacity will rise to more than �30million.

The new abattoir will be a state-of-the-art facility, incorporating carbon reducing features such as rainwater harvesting and refrigeration heat recovery.

Ahead of its opening, the company has launched a website aimed at helping livestock producers in the region to raise the profile of locally-produced quality meat products.

The site, www.glocalpride.co.uk, aims to help farmers with logistics issues and to workiwith local producers and retailers to increase the sales of locally produced meat.

Launched under the banner “glocal pride”, with the slogan “think global and act local”, the site features a directory listing retail outlets from which consumers can purchase local meat products and a producer group area to keep producers up to date with industry news.