Partner Article

Jobs saved at food firm

A lifeline has been handed to a Northumberland town as £1.5m is loaned to an under-threat food factory.

Northumberland councillors have signed off the final part of a support package to secure work for nearly 200 employees at Northumberland Foods, the biggest employer in Amble.

Northumberland Foods began operations earlier this year, buying up the failing Cheviot Foods firm.

But the new company was soon hit by the recession and managers warned up to 190 jobs, as well as many more among the factory’s local suppliers, could be lost.

Those jobs have now been saved by an emergency fund which includes Northumberland Council’s £250,000 loan commitment.

The council is providing the secured loan to help the firm during its traditionally slower summer months alongside further loans of £960,000 from The Royal Bank of Scotland and £250,000 from regional development agency One North East which will allow the plant to act on plans to turn itself into a profit-making venture.

Deputy leader of the council Roger Styring said: “The impact of Northumberland foods closing, with the loss of 190 jobs, would have been utterly devastating for Amble and had knock-on effects for the wider community.

“The action we and our partners have taken, whilst coming with an obvious element of significant risk, is designed to give this important local business every chance of succeeding and taking away the uncertainty that has been hanging over many families in the area.

“This is a unique situation. But there is presently an unemployment rate of 6.5% in Amble East, compared with the Northumberland-wide figure of 4.1% and these jobs would not have been easily replaced.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .