Wales’ leading sea salt company plans expansion to deal with growing demand

Dale Spridgeon, Local democracy reporter

Halen Môn, the only sea salt company in the UK to hold protected status, is seeking to expand its sea water storage operation “to keep up with sale demands”.

The company specialises in the production of hand-harvested sea salt and other products, at its Brynsiencyn base on the shores of the Menai Strait.

Halen Môn has developed a range of products including flavoured seasonings, salted fudge, bath salts, and smoked products, including its award winning oak smoked sea water lauded by chefs.

Now Anglesey County Council planners have agreed to a full application for an extension to the firm’s existing plant room and to the siting of two sea water storage tanks.

The scheme was permitted with conditions in a decision given by the island’s planning authority.

The application was made by Halen Môn through the agents Outline Building Solutions Cyf.

As part of a recent expansion, it stated that Halen Môn had recently completed the construction of two new buildings; the smokery and the warehouse to assist in the production and storage of smoked sea water.

The new buildings had replaced old portable cabins and shipping containers being used for production and storage .

The buildings had been approved under a previous planning application, and completed in the summer of 2025.

As part of the work, it was stated that: “An existing steel framed plant room was extended to house an Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) system which controlled the smoke and emissions from the smoking process”.

Storage tanks

The latest application said it “seeks to gain planning approval to erect a 10x6m lean-to extension to the existing plant room, along with the relocation of two sea water storage tanks and the installation of two further sea water storage tanks.

“The proposed extension would be ‘bolted on’ to the existing structure, and cladded in the same box profile sheeting to match the existing in form and colour.

“The extension is required to provide additional space for a smaller plant, tools and machinery to maintain the production of the smoked sea water.

“The additional storage tanks are required to keep up with sale demands” it added.

Last year there was a row over alleged emission smells from the smokery but after an investigation by the council, particulate monitoring data and public protection site observations over a 12-month period, a Statutory Nuisance complaint was closed, with no suggestion that planning or emissions regulations had been breached.