240 jobs in Kidderminster have been lost as insulation manufacturer Ceramaspeed Ltd announces it is moving its manufacturing operations to Poland. Just 100 jobs will be left at the Kidderminster head office. The move comes as a result of economic pressures forcing the company to find more competitive manufacturing facilities as their competitors take advantage of cheap overseas labour.
Speaking on the job losses, Mark Garnier said: "First and foremost, this is a tragedy for those workers and their families who now face an uncertain future. My sincerest sympathies go out to all those people affected by this move. Cllr John Campion has already told me that the Council is looking at ways to give help and support to those people affected and I welcome this move by the Conservative administration on the District Council.
"This is yet another body blow for Kidderminster and the district, which has been suffering under the decline of the carpet industry for a number of years. These represent, sadly, yet more manufacturing jobs lost to add to the million or more manufacturing jobs lost in the last ten years.
"It is important to recognise the changing economic climate that our manufacturing base faces. It is exactly because of events such as this that I am so keen to see our local infrastructure developed. If we fail to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the available land in southern Kidderminster - to develop business parks and hi-tech manufacturing along the Stourport Road corridor - then we will have missed an opportunity to take Wyre Forest into the twenty first century. By failing to provide financing for the Stourport Relief Road, the Government is not only depriving Wyre Forest of a golden opportunity to develop a state of the art business park; it is also potentially strangling existing businesses in Wyre Forest. With investment in our infrastructure, jobs lost in one business area will be replaced by jobs created in another: without that investment locally, the jobs will be created elsewhere and Wyre Forest will lose out."