In 1998 Vodafone threatened to leave Newbury in Berkshire unless it got its own way. The mild-mannered façade - sponsor of a children's fireworks party and local sports teams - vanished and the other face appeared.
     
Vodafone’s role in decision-making over the A34 road construction at Newbury has been under scrutiny since this bypass project was first mooted. The controversial nine miles of tarmac, finally completed in 1998, ripped through heath, watermeadow and ancient woodland and provided no coherent solutions to Newbury’s transport issues. It did however open up land for infill development by companies such as Vodafone.
    
In November 1998 Vodafone presented Newbury council with plans to build a headquarters and parking space for 2000 cars on land next to the new bypass. Vodafone used its local face to plead for special treatment - but in doing so set a clear precedent for other developers.
     
Local history reveals that Vodafone had already taken a keen interest in the development of the Newbury bypass. It donated £7,500 to the pro-bypass campaign whilst employees were warned not to openly support the ‘anti’ campaign. Vodafone supported a derby at Newbury Racecourse: the size of the racecourse then came out as one of the many spurious arguments used to support the ‘need’ for the new road.
     
According to the former leader of the council, Dr Royce Longton, Vodafone’s application to build on land which the
council was anxious to protect was accompanied with a statement saying in no uncertain erms that ‘we want to build on this site and unless we get approval we’ll go elsewhere’.
     
The Newbury chief planning officer recommended against the Vodafone office development on several grounds, including increased traffic and housing. In response to this recommendation, the company’s local face re-appeared in the guise of a march of Vodafone employees down the High Street, handing out balloons and petitioning the Council in support of the company’s application. As sponsors of the local rugby club, Vodafone sent letters to the club’s members suggesting that sponsorship would be withdrawn if there were no support for the planning application. The local Newbury Weekly News has even carried brochures promoting Vodafone’s role in the town and asking local residents to fill in enclosed voting cards to decide whether Vodafone should stay or go.
     
Vodafone made a lot of fuss about the greenfield location next to the new bypass being the only possible site after their ‘extensive’ research and employee survey. The Thames Valley is littered with brownfield sites, including Greenham Common – this however wasn’t up to Vodafone standards. The Common, of course, would not have been the property speculation fortune represented by the bypass infill site.
     
Vodafone has recently swallowed up Mannesmann of Germany. The deal – at the time the biggest corporate merger ever – is valued at 180 billion euros. It will create Europe’s biggest company, serving some 48 million customers in 26 countries worldwide.
     
One of the most consistent facets of multinational companies, by their very nature, is that they are no respecters of place. If a country doesn't suit, the legislation gets too tight or the taxman too tough, then they ‘relocate for operational reasons’. What will Newbury councillors say then, to the people whose town has doubled in size, thanks to the charge of the developers’ cavalry led by Vodafone?

Pic: Liz Snooks