Birmingham GKN Aerospace plant to close with job losses

A Birmingham aerospace plant is set to close, with the loss of about 170 jobs.

GKN Aerospace said it had "regrettably" concluded its site in Kings Norton did not have a sustainable future.

The firm said closure was expected in 2021 and it would look to support employees in applying for other roles.

Industrial giant Melrose took control of GKN in a hostile takeover last year. The Unite union said the closure decision "flew in the face" of assurances bosses gave at the time.

A Melrose spokeswoman said the decision had been taken by GKN management.

Unite said news of the site's future had come "totally out of the blue" and early next week it would be convening an "urgent summit of all of its GKN representatives".

National officer Rhys McCarthy said: "Unite has real fears that this announcement is the prelude to concerns we voiced - about asset stripping and UK operations being run down during Melrose's hostile takeover of GKN - being realised.

"Unite is demanding an urgent meeting with senior Melrose bosses and will be scrutinising the business case for these plans."

A GKN Aerospace spokesperson said having assessed the site, and its "visible order book", the firm concluded it did not have a "long-term, sustainable future within the business".

The company said it would be able to carry out a "carefully managed site wind-down process" over more than two years and would enter a period of consultation with nominated employee representatives.

Rachel Reeves MP, who chairs the Business Select Committee, has written to Melrose chief executive Simon Peckham, referring to the commitments and undertakings made by Melrose as part of its takeover of GKN.

The MP wrote: "When you wrote to me in March last year you expressed a commitment to GKN Aerospace and set out the post-offer undertakings you were prepared to make.

"These included working with UK-based businesses 'to seek further development of the UK's industrial base' in order to 'help to generate inward investment and to boost the UK economy'.

"It is difficult to reconcile these commitments with the decision to close the King's Norton plant."

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.