Hopes for bakery workers facing redundancy
Councillor Gordon Lindsay, spokesman for the local economy on Horsham District Council, spoke out today following the shock announcement of proposals to close Kate’s Cakes site in Ashington, leaving 400 jobs under threat.
He said:“This is not good news especially for the employees who will now go through a period of uncertainty.
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Hide Ad“The district economy is relatively buoyant with low unemployment which should help in finding new jobs.
“One current issue is that there is a shortage of commercial space for companies who want to expand so I am optimistic that this building will not remain empty for long.”
His comments followed an announcement from major multinational bakery giant CSM, which took over the firm of Kate’s Cakes in 2006, that it planned to close the Ashington site, and another in Esher, ‘by the end of 2017’.
The company says that it has six sites in the UK and proposes to open a brand new site alongside an existing plant in Daventry and to extend another one in Bradford.
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Hide AdCSM employs around 425 people at Ashington and another 170 at Esher.
John Lindsay, a member of the company’s senior European management team, said that staff would be offered alternative employment where possible, along with training and counselling.