COUNCIL chiefs were today bracing themselves for a fresh wave of redundancies in Hyndburn.

Staff at Wills Fabrics, which has a base at Stonebridge Mills in Oswaldtwistle, today said they were in a "state of shock" following an announcement that jobs were expected to go from their factory.

It is believed details of the redundancies were to be announced at a staff meeting today, according to Hyndburn council leader Peter Britcliffe, who said the council had been notified about the losses.

Coun Britcliffe said: "We have been told about this and it is very bad news for Oswaldtwistle and the borough.

"I know a lot of people who work at the factory and have done for a long time and they will be devastated by this.

"As a council we will have to see what we can do to address the problem."

The Wills Group also operates a plant at Woodvale Mills in Waterfoot.

Staff at both plants today referred calls about the possible redundancies to the head office in Manchester but nobody was answering the phones.

A member of staff at the Oswaldtwistle plant said: "We are all in a state of shock. We are too upset to talk about it."

The firm shed more than 90 jobs in December 1998 when it closed its Sykeside, Haslingden, plant after it decided it was cheaper to import the kind of cloth manufactured at the site.

The firm's administrators, who were brought in in 1998 in a bid to protect the firm from creditors while it sought alternative financing, said at the time of the Haslingden closure that it was needed to save the rest of the group.

They added the closure was a result of global market forces.

The Oswaldtwistle site then employed 113 people and 18 were employed at Woodvale Mills in Waterfoot.

Unemployment in Hyndburn stands at 2.5 per cent, the lowest it has been for more than 20 years.

Coun Britcliffe added: "We will do all we can to help the workers."

Following the area's last major jobs bombshell, when Leoni shed 550 jobs from its Pickup Street base, council bosses and job centre chiefs joined forces to try and minimise the number of people going on to the dole.

Fewer than 50 ended up doing so, with most people going straight into new jobs or opting for early retirement. s