A BED springs manufacturer today announced it was closing a Rossendale mill -- with the loss of almost 100 jobs.

Workers at the three-storey Doric Siddall Springs Mill in Burnley Road East, Water, were given the news in a special meeting called by management from the Siddall and Hilton group in Sowerby Bridge.

The mill is the only large employer left in the northern end of the Whitewell Valley after Lambert Howarth and Panda Plastics closed in Whitewell Bottom in the 1990s.

Workers were given a letter which said, from February 22, the company was being taken over by Leggett and Platt of Newark, Nottinghamshire, who plan to maintain the manufacturing unit at Royston for pocket and bonnell springs.

The letters says the Rossendale manufacturing unit, Doric, is, subject to consultation, to be closed in line with rationalisation of UK manufacturing. The company is planning to keep just two sites, Wellhouse Wire, Barnoldswick, and Royston. The letter says workers may be offered alternative employment.

Jeremy Siddall, director of Doric Siddall Springs Mill, said: "The reason for the closure of the business is down to fierce competition.

"The business is not profitable to us, so it had to be sold. Leggett and Platt is a huge American-based company who will be able to take the business forward.

"The number of jobs losses are uncertain at the moment. Leggett and Platt also have a factory in Barnoldswick, which could mean that some people might have their jobs transferred to there.

"I believe that Leggett and Platt are to close the Rossendale factory, but they haven't told us their intentions in regard to what will happen to people's jobs.

"We have only been in ownership of the company for six years, but it is going to be sad for everybody."

A long-term worker said: "This will have a devastating effect on everybody. There is nothing left around here. We don't know what is going to happen."

Another worker, who has done nearly 30 years for the company, said: "I had only a few years to do and I thought it was going to be at Doric. I think it is disgusting.

"I don't know what I am going to do or where people are going to go. Even the bosses couldn't tell us what was going to happen.

"We don't know how long they are going to keep the company on, if we are going to close in a week, if we are going to be open for a month or if we are going to be open for longer."

A villager said: "It will affect everybody in the village. Workers made use of the local shop before their shifts and in their lunch hour. There is just nothing left in this area."

Workers said that as people have left the company they have not been replaced and so the workforce has dwindled.

In November 1997 a huge fire caused £1million-worth of damage to the mill premises, but the building was rebuilt.

Whitewell ward Councillor Chris Wadsworth, said: "It's shocking news. It is indicative of the state of most of the manufacturing in this country at the moment.

"The company I work for has been very quiet. This will have a very big impact on the local economy."