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Biodiesel plant closure can be ‘devastating’ for Lanarkshire.
A biodiesel producer has proposed closing its Scottish plant, inserting dozens of jobs in danger.
Argent Power will open session with affected workers at its Newarthill plant imminently, having cited “market pressures” as the explanation for the attainable closure.
Native MP Marion Fellows described the information as a “devastating blow” to North Lanarkshire.
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Argent, which makes use of waste fat and oils to decarbonise transport, mentioned that it had confronted “extreme financial pressures” since 2022.
Staff are believed to have been informed of the information earlier this month.
The location, close to Motherwell, was the corporate’s first location in 2005, earlier than it later expanded to Cheshire and Amsterdam.
The Glasgow Instances reported round 75 roles are below menace, however the firm declined to verify if this determine was appropriate.
Louise Calviou, Argent’s chief govt officer, mentioned:
This has been the toughest resolution for us to make and is one we have now not taken calmly.
“After cautious consideration of market circumstances and our strategic targets for world decarbonisation efforts, we imagine it’s a mandatory step we have to take.”
The corporate mentioned the setting for biodiesal manufacturing had been weakened by higher competitors from imported Chinese language biodiesel and post-Brexit difficulties in importing feedstock.
‘Enormous knock-on results’
Marion Fellows, the SNP MP for Motherwell and Wishaw, informed BBC Scotland Information that she was:
Shocked by what seems to be a really sudden reversal in fortune.
She mentioned: “If this goes forward it will likely be a devastating blow to the entire of North Lanarkshire.
“It would come as no comfort to this glorious workforce that the corporate is blaming exterior market forces.
“These are jobs that North Lanarkshire and Scotland doesn’t need to lose”.
Ms Fellows added that there can be “large knock-on results” for the native financial system if the closure went forward.
Argent Power mentioned it was “too early to say” what number of workers can be affected by the closure due because the session course of had not but began.
A Scottish authorities spokesman described the information as “very disappointing”.
He added: “This will probably be a regarding time for the employees and their households and supporting affected employees members have to be the instant precedence.”
The Newarthill plant has the capability to provide as much as 50 million litres of biodiesel a 12 months.
The corporate was based in 2001 and commenced manufacturing in Lanarkshire 4 years later.
Biodiesel plant closure can be ‘devastating’ for Lanarkshire, March 25, 2024