Following yesterday’s shock announcement that Shop Direct will be closing its Shaw depot in 2020, the Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group, Shaw Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has contacted senior Oldham Council officers seeking reassurance that the Council will offer a full range of support services to local businesses who lose trade, as well as local employees who lose their jobs, as a result of the proposed closure.

Shaw and Crompton councillors were informed via email by Shop Direct of their intentions at 12.00 hours on Wednesday 11th April 2018.

Councillor Sykes; speaking on behalf of all the Liberal Democrat Councillors for Shaw and Crompton; said:  “This will have a serious impact on Oldham’s economy, particularly in Shaw and Crompton.  Shop Direct is estimated to employ, directly or through agencies, around 2,000 staff in the north-west region; many of these are our local constituents and other residents of our Borough working at the Shaw depot (and in Chadderton).

Most will have to accept redundancy when these jobs are relocated with the company to a new purpose-built plant in the East Midlands.  But in addition to the loss of these jobs, we need to recognise that many of our small businesses in Shaw – newsagents, sandwich shops, pubs and taxi firms – rely on these workers for much of their trade and that they will suffer a significant downturn when the closure takes place.  The risk is that some of these businesses will also cease trading with the loss of yet more jobs.”

Shaw Councillor Chris Gloster added:  “My worry is that if we do not start planning for the future now, with the involvement of the company and with the involvement of the Council’s Get Oldham Working team and other agencies, we could see not only many hundreds of workers thrown onto the dole without alternate employment, but the closure of a good number of our local businesses and Shaw Town Centre taking another big hit on its footfall.”

“Unfortunately we are not inexperienced at this sort of situation, having been through this pain with the closure of Warburton’s Bakery, and we will do our utmost to help people affected by this announcement,” stated Councillor Howard Sykes.

Councillor Chris Gloster added: “although Shop Direct are moving out of town, they are not taking the fulfilment site with them, and as internet shopping is on the rise, and looks like it can only grow bigger, hopefully another fulfilment company will want to take this readymade site over thereby securing employment in Shaw’.

Councillor Sykes concluded:  “Yesterday I contacted senior Council officers, including the Chief Executive, asking them for reassurance about the support we will offer to these workers and businesses so that we can make the best of this terrible situation.   We have also offered our services as a facilitator using the established contacts that I already have with Shop Direct to arrange talks with company bosses at the highest level and at the earliest opportunity.”

Copy of Councillor Sykes Email and officer’s reply

From: Jon Bloor
Sent: 11 April 2018 17:07
To: Howard Sykes; Tom Stannard
Cc: Elizabeth Fryman; Eve Edwards; Cllr C Gloster; Cllr D Murphy; Cllr D Williamson; Cllr J Turner; Carolyn Wilkins
Subject: RE: Re Shop Direct in Shaw to close

Dear Howard,

Apologies I rang you earlier but you are in London today.

We met with the Shaw team in November to discuss working with them via GOW about developing a long term arrangement. So this is a shock, especially as there has been no contact with Midas or ourselves in terms of local relocation options.

However, we need to develop an appropriate and supportive response as we did with Slumberland and Warburtons.

We are meeting with the Operations Manager next week to discuss what can be done between now and 2020/21.

Re: Outplacement support.

I have spoken with Job Centre Plus who will only really get involved in 2 years time when the bulk of the redundancies will be made, and as such we need to recognise that whilst it is a huge initial shock we have two years to work with the workers that are affected.

We believe the numbers quoted in the press release are higher than expected but we shall come back to you when we have a clearer picture.

We shall develop a plan and share this with you re: our offer of support but it will largely be around developing a redeployment offer, using the Career Advancement Staff – and working with local employers to develop clear pathways (For example DPD will be opening during the latter part of this year).

I will keep you updated and thank you for the kind offer of your links this could be really useful but we need to follow their protocol and meet with their national Operations Manager first.

Kind regards

Jon.

From: Howard Sykes
Sent: 11 April 2018 13:28
To: Jon Bloor, Tom Stannard
Cc: Howard Sykes ; Elizabeth Fryman ; Eve Edwards ; Cllr C Gloster  Cllr D Murphy; Cllr D Williamson; Cllr J Turner; Carolyn Wilkins
Subject: Re Shop Direct in Shaw to close

Just seen this announcement.

Are we gearing up to provide support and advice like we have done in the past when a major employer closes down.

Welcome some early re-assurance of what we can do to help.

This will have a mega impact on the Borough and especially Shaw and Crompton.

Myself and Liz have some good contacts at the Shaw site.

Councillor Howard Sykes MBE