Hundreds of jobs may be lost in Somerset after GKN said it would close a plant that makes helicopter components at the end of next year.
The company makes airframes – the body of an aircraft excluding its engines – for Royal Navy helicopters at the site in Yeovil.
It began formal consultations with unions last month after Leonardo, which assembles the Wildcat helicopter in the town, told GKN it planned to take production back in-house.
Leonardo is owned by Italy’s Finmeccanica, which bought Westland – Britain’s only helicopter business – from GKN in 2004 for £1bn. At the time the Yeovil plant employed 4,000 people.
After Leonardo made the decision earlier this year to take all future AW159 Wildcat helicopter work in-house, GKN said in October that its Yeovil operation was no longer a viable business.
It then began a consultation period based on two options: either significantly downsizing the facility or closing it entirely.
“Since then, we have explored all possible options to avoid closure. However, we have found no realistic chance of significant, long-term helicopter work in the foreseeable future, and we have been unable to find a solution that would make GKN Yeovil a sustainable business,” a GKN spokesman said.
The company said that failure meant it was “deeply saddened” to work on the basis that the site would close at the end of 2017.
“Consultation with nominated employee representatives will continue, now focused on the appropriate steps towards closure in 13 months’ time,” he said.
“Every effort will be made to support people throughout this difficult period and, wherever possible, GKN will seek to offer alternative jobs to employees at other UK sites.”
Both GKN and Leonardo workers are located on the same site in Yeovil.
Unite’s regional secretary for the south-west, Peter Hughes, said it was dreadful news for the 221 workers at GKN Yeovil and their families in the run-up to Christmas.
“It is a hammer blow for the Somerset economy in particular and for UK manufacturing more generally,” he said. “It reinforces the urgent need for ministers to formulate a coherent industrial strategy to safeguard UK manufacturing.”
Hughes added: “We don’t believe that the business case for closure has been made and in the weeks ahead we will exploring options to keep the plant going as a viable business.
“We will be giving our members maximum support at this difficult time and talking to GKN about redeployment within this key British business.”
Earlier this week the union accused GKN of “supercilious behaviour” in its treatment of the Yeovil workforce and of “throwing these highly skilled manufacturing jobs on to the funeral pyre of corporate greed”.
As well as its aerospace business, GKN has three other main divisions including land systems, which makes components such as gearboxes for earthmoving equipment.
It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100, valued at almost £5.3bn. The company employs about 55,000 people in more than 30 countries.
Leonardo is the largest inward investor in the UK defence sector and one of the biggest suppliers of defence equipment to the Ministry of Defence. The company employs 7,300 people at six sites across the UK, two-thirds of whom have highly skilled roles.
