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It is a medieval market town which, because of its Quaker heritage, has long been associated with peace and pacifism.
Now, however, residents of Saffron Walden in Essex have been left aghast after it emerged their local council is to invest £35m of public money into developing a new manufacturing base – for a global arms company.
Uttlesford District Council will plough the cash into the 184,000 sq ft facility as part of a new property portfolio aimed at generating future income.
The Essex authority will fund the building of the complex, located in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, then lease it out over 35 years to the defence company, which it has refused to name publicly.
However, the firm understood to be American manufacturer Moog, which recently hailed its new “state of the art” Tewkesbury base that is set to open in 2023.
Locals in Uttlesford have expressed horror over an arrangement which will effectively see their council tax bankrolling a firm that sells weapons of war across the world and which, on its website, boasts of developing “one shot/one kill” technology.
Opponents point out that Moog, which specialises in missile and fighter jets, has previously sold products to countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE – two Middle East autocracies accused of slaughtering civilians in their ongoing war in Yemen.
Now, they have launched a petition demanding the council – run by the local Residents For Uttlesford group – scrap the plans.
“There are so many properties and businesses we could invest in so to effectively team up with an arms company that deals with some of the world’s most abhorrent regimes is nothing short of scandalous,” said Daniel Brett, a parish councillor and the man behind that petition. “The council has done its best to keep this quiet because they know full well people would be disgusted their money is being used in this way. As a district, this would put blood on our hands – it is as simple as that.”
In a place with such specific links to the Quakers and pacifist movements, he added, the move “was especially insensitive”.
Saffron Walden’s library was one of many buildings in town funded by Quakers
(Saffron Walden Tourist Information)
The scheme – innocuously called “Investment Opportunity 12” by the council – will see the authority use its sovereign-rated status to borrow £35m at the kind of super-low rates only afforded to public bodies.
It will then partner with developer Barberry Industrial and plough that cash into developing the Tewkesbury facility.
Once completed in 2023, Moog will move on to the site and pay rent to the council under a 35-year lease.
The company is described by the Campaign Against Arms Trade as the world’s “93rd biggest arms and military services company outside China”.
The new facility – described benignly in press literature as “a state-of-the-art aerospace manufacturing and design facility” – already has planning permission from Tewkesbury Borough Council. Building is expected to start in the coming months.
But Paul Fairhurst, leader of the Green Party on Uttlesford District Council, is among those calling for the decision to now be reconsidered.
“It’s wholly inappropriate,” he said. “Public bodies which are dealing with people’s money need to be held to a very high ethical standard and I don’t think anyone could argue investing in this kind of industry does that.”
Responding to the council’s plans, the Campaign Against Arms Trade said it was concerned.
“CAAT believes that financial pressure, including disinvestment, can be a valuable tool in opposing the harmful activities of the arms industry,” a spokesperson said. “We would urge any local authority deciding its investment policy to consider the damaging impact of the arms trade, in which Moog participates, on global peace and human rights, and to avoid investing in it, and divest from existing arms industry holdings.”
Neither Uttlesford District Council nor Moog responded to requests for comment.
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