Consultation starts over plans to shut Pinneys' Annan site

About 450 jobs could be lost with the closure of the site in Annan

A formal 45-day consultation period over the closure of the Pinneys of Scotland fish processing factory at Annan has started.

It comes just under two weeks after parent company Young's Seafood announced plans to shut the plant and move production to Grimsby.

The proposals would see the loss of at least 450 jobs.

An action group is already working on ways to mitigate the impact of the move should it go ahead.

Enterprise Minister Paul Wheelhouse is scheduled to visit the plant for talks with senior management on Thursday.

'Meaningful consultation'

David Mundell MP and Oliver Mundell MSP visited the Pinneys site, where they met management and toured the factory.

A Young's Seafood spokesman said: "Since announcing our intention to hold a consultation, we have spoken with representatives of the local council, the Scottish government and other stakeholders, along with parties who have expressed a potential interest in the site. We will hold more meetings with stakeholders in the coming days.

"The first consultation meeting was held on site today, marking the beginning of the consultation process.

"During this process, we will work closely with our employees, and any other appropriate organisation, to ensure that we have meaningful consultation before any decisions are made and that colleagues at Pinneys have all the information and support they may need to make informed decisions.

"We have a long history of seafood production in Annan and whatever the outcome of the consultation we will continue to be a part of the community, given our other factory site within the town."

'Major challenges'

The regional organiser of the Unite union, Andy McFarlane, said the start of the consultation period meant they had to focus on trying to save jobs on the site.

"There are major challenges to that," he admitted.

"I don't think anybody's going to kid anybody on that there aren't major challenges in terms of the business decisions that have been made by Young's."

He stressed that it was also possible to extend talks beyond the 45 day limit.

"We would hope that we use every minute of the consultation period in order to try and alleviate the situation," he said.

"But equally, if we have to extend that, then both sides will agree to extend that and carry it forward and isolate and explore every avenue that is open to try and alleviate the position that we find ourselves in just now."