Shoreham ‘success story’ Higgidy is given permission to expand

The application from Higgidy, which is famous for its range of pies and quiches, was approved during a meeting of Adur District Council’s planning committee on Monday (June 7).

Co-founder James Foottit told the meeting that the company produced 100,000 pies a day and had hit capacity at its HQ in Dolphin Road.

He said: “It’s actually quite challenging growing an industrial manufacturing business around here.

“The big challenge in manufacturing is you never have the right amount of space.”

Mr Foottit said it had been ‘very fortunate’ for four units to become vacant so close to Higgidy’s HQ.

He added that the intention was to invest  £7m into growing the business and possibly expanding on to a neighbouring site in due course.

The warehouses are currently listed as for light industrial use but that will now change.

A report to the committee said: “The scheme would enable the expansion of this successful local company to meet increasing customer demand.

“The units would be occupied as an integral part of Higgidy’s operations. They would be used for food production, and ancillary purposes, including research and development, offices, and chilled and ambient storage.”

The application received unanimous approval from the committee.

Stephen Chipp (Con, Southwick Green) said of Higgidy: “It’s a success story and something we should be proud of.”