A Macclesfield businessman is set to meet with government ministers as Brexit red tape puts a £1 million warehouse investment and new jobs at risk.

Despite the economic hardship brought by the pandemic, the Cheshire Cheese Company has seen its sales grow over the past year, on the continent in particular.

Simon Spurrell, a Macclesfield native and company co-founder, said the company had made £180,000 in sales into the EU last year, making up 20% of the online side of the business.

The end of the Brexit transition period on 1 January brought a new regime of regulatory restrictions on product ranges crossing the EU border, but the impact has landed hardest on the fresh food sector.

Simon told Macclesfield Nub News: "The problem we're having is with the online consumer sales, as well as some problems with wholesale. This is because the new rules and regulations that have been put into place are an absolute utter nightmare to deal with.

"We're still coping with shipping in bulk to countries in the EU; we've done it successfully this week.

Simon explained that with every order of his cheese products that go out to the EU requires a veterinary certificate costing £180.

With experience in exporting to the US and Canada, Simon is well versed with these requirements in terms of wholesales, but one major difference was an exemption applied to direct consumer sales in these countries.

"What this means is someone buying three tonnes of cheese or £30 worth of cheese will need to buy the £180 Export Health Certificate (EHC)," Simon said.

"As you can imagine, that's then completely and utterly has stopped has been able to send to the EU because I'm not going to be able to convince a Frenchman to buy our cheese, it's hard enough as it is."

Simon described it as a "battle" to get Macclesfield MP David Rutley and the government to properly acknowledge the issues he was facing, but they eventually took his concerns on board.

The company's plight has attracted international attention, and after more than 60 interviews with national and foreign media, Simon is set to have a meeting with the environment secretary George Eustice and David Rutley to see if any solutions can be found.

One of the options the company is left with is to invest in a fulfilment centre on the continent to get around the export barriers.

This may disrupt the long-planned £1 million investment to build a fulfilment warehouse at Hawkshead Quarry, south of Macclesfield, along with the 20 to 25 new jobs.

Simon said: "The fulfilment centre is to help us cope with our expansion, including a 400% growth in our online business over the last year. A sizable chunk of that growth has come from the EU market."

While he did vote 'remain' in the 2016 EU referendum, Simon said he has long since "accepted the democratic decision".

"I don't care who voted, in what way, shape or form, what I want is a solution that can only be a unified, united approach, where we all point fingers to the only people who can make any difference, and that's the politicians," Simon added.

While these issues have caused some damage to his export market, Simon is optimistic that these will be short-term and the local warehouse investment can go ahead.

There is also the hope of increasing exports into other markets. Simon explains the company had a "substantial" order worth £64,000 from Canada- a country they have only recently been able to export into.