Further 90 jobs go at Berkeley plant (From Gazette Series)

Further 90 jobs go at Berkeley plant

NINETY jobs have been lost from the Berkeley Power Station site as part of the first phase of its down-sizing the operation.

The losses last Friday, all voluntary redundancies, added to the 400 workers who have been redeployed to other power station sites, mean there are only 900 staff remaining of the 1,450 who were employed at Berkeley this time last year.

Site spokesman Tim Jones told the Gazette: "There were around 90 people who left at the end of March and they all took voluntary severance.

"The jobs went across the board - there was no particular department from which they left."

Friday also marked the handing over of the site to the control of the government-run Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Workers at Berkeley are now operating as a contractor to the NDA, which will increase the competitive demands on them.

The 900-strong workforce that remains will be decreased to 250 within two years but at the moment there are no specific dates for when the remaining cuts will take place.

"In September 2004 we announced we would be reducing the number of staff from around 1,450 to 250 by April 2007," said Mr Jones.

"We have been working in partnership with trade unions and the staff have been offered support and counselling.

"As of this week we have around 900 people left on the site and nothing has been decided on the timing of further staff reductions yet."

Attention will now turn to what the site can be used for in the future.

The Berkeley Task Force, made up of company management, local representatives including David Drew MP and trade union representatives, is currently assessing four ideas for submission to the NDA for in-depth scrutiny.

The four recommendations include a renewable energy site, a leisure facility, a landscaped area or an energy industry business park, which is the most-favoured option at the moment.

The task force is scheduled to meet again at the end of the month. Mr Jones said: "They will meet towards the end of April and any further developments should be announced then."