BRITAIN'S biggest trade union says the closure of the Shredded Wheat factory in Welwyn Garden City will be "disastrous" and has vowed to fight it.

The Transport and General Workers Union (T&G) says new jobs are hard to come by in the town and the closure would be a "very serious body blow" for the local economy.

Cereal Partners UK, which owns the Shredded Wheat brand, wants to shut down the factory and distribution centre in two years' time, meaning the loss of 370 jobs.

Manufacturing and distribution will be moved to Staverton in Wiltshire, where 55 new jobs will be created. The company's 80 finance, sales and marketing employees will remain in Welwyn Garden City.

Many of the employees facing the axe have worked at the factory for decades and fear they will not be able to find new jobs.

Cereal Partners UK says it needs to cut manufacturing costs in order to remain competitive and the only way to do this is by having "fewer factories and large-scale systems".

It says that despite its continual investment in the Broadwater Road site the building and infrastructure there will not support cost-effective installation of large-scale, low-cost systems.

But the T&G said the factory was part of a "thriving £1bn per year global enterprise" and accused Cereal Partners UK of wanting to realise the asset value of the site and save on its wage bill.

Union worker Alan Brkljac said: "If anything they are experiencing record profits and a continually growing market share."

Mr Brkljac recently met with representatives of the company's management and said he was not convinced by the reasons for the closure. He said: "As yet we have not been presented with anything more than a brief sketch or outline and we have asked the company to release more relevant business information so we may take a look at what they are proposing.

"We intend to approach the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) and local government with our concerns about the reasons for this disastrous decision."

Cereal Partners managing director Phil Ruebotham said last week that the decision to close had been a very difficult one, and that staff had always worked hard to improve productivity. He said those affected by the job losses would be helped to find new employment.

On Tuesday the company confirmed that it had met with union representatives and further meetings were planned to discuss the issue in more detail.