MOORLAND Plastics, which has provided jobs for disabled people in Barnsley for nearly 50 years, is to be closed due to it running at a loss.

Barnsley Council runs the business and says due to the financial challenges it is facing it is increasingly difficult to sustain the financial support needed to keep it afloat.

The firm, which employs 39 people, is expected to lose between £400,000 and £500,000 this financial year and recently lost a contract worth more than £500,000 to supply PVC windows to the Kier Group.

It will now undergo an 18-month 'decommissioning' process and the council will help explore alternative job opportunities for staff.

Coun Tim Cheetham said the council has previously invested in the plant to allow it to grow with the intention of making it 'self-financing' in the long term.

"That business plan has failed," he said. "Going back 18 months, it was very clear that we were making the council's final investment, it was an investment that was intended to give them what they needed to be self-sustaining. This has not worked.

"Moorland Plastics was set up to train people and get them ready for work, which means the majority of employees would be skilled enough to find work elsewhere."

** The full story is in the Barnsley Chronicle, dated October 24. **