Benji offered to buy the KTH factory after it closed in September last year

Garden furniture and tools firm Benji and Company, from Llanidloes, is moving to Poland, making 28 people redundant.

Managing director Peter Rees criticised the Welsh Assembly Government because he said it objected to a new road leading to his proposed new factory.

The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) said it had argued against the road on safety grounds.

Mr Rees denies that cheaper labour costs in Poland have been a major factor in his decision to move overseas.

I've been threatening to do this for some time if I didn't get the support I needed Peter Rees

Last year, he offered to buy the former Llanidloes car parts factory KTH when it closed in September 2003.

He promised to create 51 jobs to replace some of the 250 lost there.

However, when deal fell through he threatened to move his business overseas or to larger premises in south Wales.

Mr Rees said: "I bought a farm just outside Llanidloes and moved there in June.

"I was looking to develop the site and applied for planning permission in February.

"But the Welsh assembly says it has a fundamental objection to the access road leading to the site.

"This prevents me from getting planning permission so I've made the decision to relocate the business to Poland.

"I've been threatening to do this for some time if I didn't get the support I needed.

"I bought the farm specifically to expand my business, but my hand has been forced and I'm moving the business to Poland."

Mr Rees added: "I'll be employing 60 people at workshops near Krakow in Poland, but I'm sorry to say 28 people will lose their jobs in Llanidloes.

"I have multi-million-pound contracts in the UK and Europe and I've employed a Polish director to run the business over there.

"I will remain in this country and hopefully I'll be able to distribute the garden furniture from Llanidloes."

Benji is making 10 part-time and 18 full-time staff redundant

A spokesman for WAG said: "There have been two inquiries into an access road leading to the A470.

"But due to the safety implications of such a road we would not look favourably on the planning application.

"We will work with the company to assist it in every way possible."

Llanidloes mayor Councillor Edward Breeze said: "This is another economic blow and something we could do without just a year after the closure of KTH.

"Benji employed people who had been workers at KTH and now they've lost their jobs again."

The KTH site is being redeveloped as part of a multi-million-pound redevelopment plan announced earlier this year.

Benji and Company sells repaired garden machinery, tools and furniture at auctions across the UK.

In December last year, Mr Rees said his plan to move into the closed car parts plant was scuppered by misleading information given to Llanidloes Regeneration Group