Müller Milk & Ingredients plans to invest £15m in its dairy facility in Bellshill, Scotland over the next three years.

The firm will make the investment in a new cream filling hall, high-speed production lines, and expansion of site processing capabilities and site infrastructure.

The investment is expected to modernise the dairy facility and improve efficiencies and competitiveness, whilst giving the firm the capability to broaden the range of products.

"By investing in Bellshill we will be better able to optimise the value in the milk we buy from dairy farmers."

Müller also plans to close its smaller dairy facilities in East Kilbride and Aberdeen, both of which are operating below complete production capacity.

This decision was taken following a consultation with employees and their representatives, farmers, farming groups, and political representatives.

About 225 jobs will be affected by the decision across the Aberdeen and East Kilbride sites.

The Aberdeen dairy will be closed by mid-June, while operations at East Kilbride dairy will continue for the next 18-24 months in order to shift production lines to Bellshill.

Müller Milk & Ingredients managing director Andrew McInnes said: "We recognise that this change will affect our colleagues at both sites and farmers in the North East but this announcement is a key step towards building a sustainable, diverse and future focused dairy business in Scotland and the UK.

"Unfortunately the status quo was not sustainable within our Scottish dairy network, with both Aberdeen and East Kilbride dairies operating well-below capacity.

"By investing in Bellshill we will be better able to optimise the value in the milk we buy from dairy farmers."

Employees affected by this decision will be given the opportunity to relocate within the firm’s network.

All the 43 farmers supplying the Aberdeen dairy have been given the option to continue supplying milk to the business, conditional to a 1.75ppl charge which represents the cost of transporting the milk from Aberdeen to Bellshill facility.

Farmers who do not intend to continue supplying milk to Müller can terminate their contracts on expiry of 12 months of notice period.