|
Tim Yeo has convened a meeting in Westminster with two high-ranking council officials from Babergh District and Ipswich Borough Councils, E.ON’s Managing Director as well as the company’s Public Affairs Manager on Monday 22nd October. The aim of the meeting is for all sides to look at ways of addressing the impact of the company’s planned closure of its Wherstead Park offices in the eastern part of the Babergh district.
Mike Hammond, Babergh District Council’s Corporate Director and James Hehir, Chief Executive at Ipswich Borough Council will be setting off together to present an united front as representatives of the two communities most seriously affected by the likely job losses
Cllr. Nick Ridley, Babergh’s Strategy Committee Chairman welcomed Babergh’s involvement. “We are delighted to have been invited by Tim Yeo to this meeting. We are keen to better understand E.ON’s timetable for the closure and so be in a stronger position to work with our colleagues at Ipswich in bringing together the relevant agencies to help E.ON staff find new jobs”.
“We have already received a number of requests from other companies seeking to fill job vacancies and we have passed these onto the relevant government bodies. In the longer term, we remain hopeful that the site will continue to offer high-quality employment for local residents” concluded Cllr. Ridley.
Cllr. Liz Harsant, Leader of Ipswich Borough Council, said "many E.ON employees live in Ipswich and it is important that we work together to try to offer help. Wherstead Park will remain an employment site and we will be working with Babergh and E.ON to secure the most productive use for the site."
Tim Yeo MP said “The purpose of the meeting is threefold: firstly to ensure that every possible effort is made to secure alternative employment for those who are to lose their jobs, secondly that the Wherstead Park site remains viable and thirdly that E.ON recognise their corporate responsibility to ensue that those who are to be made redundant receive fair compensation.”
|