THE Welsh Government is being urged to 'help support the Welsh food industry' as a Denbighshire creamery goes up for sale.

That is the call being made by shadow rural affairs minister Llyr Gruffydd who is urging them to secure a buyer for the former Arla site in Llandyrnog.

The Plaid Cymru MS says that the fact that the site is up for sale is an 'opportunity for the Welsh food industry'.

The creamery closed more than two years ago with the loss of nearly one hundred jobs and has been mothballed (reducing to a skeleton staff, in order to preserve the site for later use or sale) ever since. It has now gone on sale for £2.5 million.

Mr Gruffydd said: "The closure of the Arla site together with Tomlinsons Dairy in Minera in recent years has been a body blow to the dairy industry in the region. Hundreds of jobs were lost and milk that had been produced locally had to be sent for processing over the border.

"Those products, both milk and cheese, had previously been branded as Welsh and have now lost that branding. That undermines all the good work done by various agencies to brand Welsh produce as a distinctive product.

"We've also lost the opportunity to add value in the local economy to those raw milk products and that's why I've called on the minister to be pro-active in securing this site for the Welsh food industry. Rural communities need work and skilled jobs in an important sector such as food production."

Mr Gruffydd has now written to the rural affairs minister Lesley Griffiths to urge a more pro-active approach to support the Welsh dairy industry.

In May, following much uncertainty surrounding its future, Arla Foods UK managing director Ash Amirahmadi confirmed that they were 'preparing to dispose' of the Llandyrnog site for good.

Mr Gruffydd called that news 'very disappointing' and added that he thought the Welsh Government should support any moves to re-open the site under new ownership.

He said "That would be an important step to increase Welsh processing capacity, add value to the product, reduce food miles and the food chain as well as creating jobs in the Vale of Clwyd."