“I feel that it is important that we keep employment sites open in South Warwickshire, manufacturing should be playing a very important part in local employment.”

The factory on Station Road—where gas and steam turbines are designed, engineered, and repaired—has been a major employer in Shipston for 40 years.

However, if as expected, General Electric move forward with the closure, Cllr Cheney said: “The purpose of this meeting is to also make sure adequate resources are put in place if General Electric carry out their threat to close the factory in Shipston.”

Cllr Cheney will be joined by Shipston’s Labour district councillor, Jeff Kenner, town councillors, and members of the Stour United Businesses group.

Cllr Kenner said that the main point of the meeting at the factory at 11am was to demand a proper explanation from General Electric Energy’s policy leader for Europe, Simon Ashwell, about the reasons behind the closure.  

He will be asking, if the company is committed to a closure, could it be flexible, allowing the workers to see out their existing work contracts.

Cllr Kenner also wants to guarantee the employees will receive a full redundancy package comparable with the rest of Europe, and will ask what General Electric’s plan is for the future of the site.