AROUND 140 jobs are set to be axed at East Lancashire's last remaining major footwear manufacturer after bosses announced plans to move production abroad.

Employees at E Sutton & Son Ltd were sent home yesterday, many of them in tears, after managers at the Bacup Riverside site broke the news.

The announcement means that Rossendale's once-proud footwear industry, which used to employ 20,000 people, has all but died. In the 1990s, firms like Lambert Haworth, the Bacup Shoe Company and Newman's all pulled out of manufacturing in the Valley - taking thousands of livelihoods with them.

Union chiefs said meetings would be held next Monday at the company in a bid to save some of the jobs at risk.

The company revealed it will retain sales, administration, design, technical, product trial, quality control and logistics operations at its headquarters in Bacup.

These will be linked electronically with a quality control and shipping office in the Far East.

The company has entered a 90-day consultation period with employees' representatives to discuss its future.

Bosses blame intense competition from low-cost imports for a recent downturn that has seen the company lose more than £1million in the last year.

Colin Tait, North West secretary of the National Union of Knitwear, Footwear and Apparel Trades, said: ""The workers were devastated by the news. Many of them have worked there for a long time and there were a lot of tears down at the factory.

"It has been a terrible day for our members and for the town - it is the last footwear factory in the Rossendale Valley and it was one of Bacup's biggest employers.

"It is a very sad day for the Lancashire footwear industry.

Management agreed to send the workers home for the day to let them speak to their families.

Company chairman Barry Lynch said: "We were faced with a simple choice of global sourcing or going out of business altogether.

" Sadly, no depth of regret or sentiment can change the hard facts of business life."

Clive Balchin, secretary of Rossendale Chamber of Commerce said: "This news is very very disappointing and I think the council should be working in partnership with the relevant body to try and get the people back into jobs."

Many workers returning to the plant today were dismayed by the news.

One 29-year-old worker from Bacup, who has two children, said: "I was gutted when I heard the news. After the last lot of redundancies we thought that would be it but it now looks likely that it is going to happen again to everybody that works here. I am hopeful of finding somewhere else but it has been a decent place to work."