New slaughterhouse 'top priority' for Guernsey minister

The current facility will be forced to close as it will not be fit for use in the future

A new slaughterhouse is one of the top priorities for Guernsey's Commerce and Employment Department this year.

The department has released a business plan for 2011, which sets out a wide range of objectives.

They include ensuring small business has enough land, improving ties with India and boosting the retail sector.

Minister Carla McNulty Bauer said a new slaughterhouse was vital as the existing facility would be closed by environmental health in 2012.

She said: "The environmental health department has said that we need to do something and if we don't, the slaughterhouse will be closed by April 2012."

Plans for a new facility on a new site at Longue Hougue are due to be presented to the States during the summer.