Future uncertain as firm loses its battle

A MAJOR employer in Shaw is remaining tight-lipped on its future after losing its battle to build a giant warehouse and car park.

JD Williams had claimed that without the £41 million expansion its Lilac and Briar Mills site, in Beal Lane, would no longer be sustainable and the firm would consider relocating, putting 1,000 local jobs at risk and preventing job creation.

But as revealed by the Evening Chronicle, a planning inspector dismissed the mail-order company’s appeal against Oldham Council twice turning down the plan for the warehouse, first reaching 175ft and then reduced to 127ft tall, and a three-storey car park.

The firm has since refused to comment on whether it will continue to stay in Shaw.

But residents — delighted with the result of the three-day inquiry after a campaign against the plans — have rubbished the job creation claims.

Bosses had said the warehouse would be fully-automated and admitted that staff at satellite sites would be relocated to Shaw — leaving residents to question how jobs would be created.

The firm stressed that 70 per cent of its staff live within six miles of the site and have an Oldham postcode — but it’s claimed these are Eastern European workers given rented accommodation and only a small minority are British.

One ex-managerial employee told the Chronicle that for the last two years the firm had recruited staff through Nottingham-based Agency Staffline, which imports workers from Poland and Slovakia specifically for the JD Williams account.

They lose their accommodation if they get employment elsewhere or become permanent employees of JD Williams.

He added: “The impact of job losses in Shaw at the closure of JD Williams is minimal, the majority of the existing staff ‘bus’ in from Denton, Rusholme, Cheetham Hill — far outside the few miles quoted.”

Staffline is currently advertising vacancies on its website for production workers in picking and packing roles in Shaw at £6.40 an hour.

It states: “If you are Eastern European and wish to locate to the Manchester area we can arrange this for you.”

Councillor Hazel Gloster, who lives close by, said: “It doesn’t make sense that these skills are available in the local area and they are recruiting outside the UK.

“They should have a massive amount of people employed from the local community and they haven’t.”

JD Williams general manager Ian Carr declined to answer questions on the firm’s future in Shaw or the job claims.