AROUND 30 jobs are being axed at one of Blackburn's best-known firms.

Netlon is making the job cuts as part of a move to reduce operations at its Mill Hill site and switch more production to its expanded Shadsworth plant.

Chief executive Roger Duckworth said: "In the face of significant market changes in our gardening business we must adapt in order to remain competitive and meet the changing needs of our customers.

"We deeply regret the need for redundancies, particularly at a site which has a long history with the company.

"We are proud of our Blackburn heritage and extremely confident of our future as a world leader in many of our markets. Indeed this is the reason we have invested heavily in the Shadsworth site."

The company pledged its New Wellington Street, Mill Hill, factory would remain open when the expansion of Shadsworth was announced last year.

Netlon said it wanted to concentrate on its core "solutions business" dealing with civil engineering, industrial and turf reinforcement customers. The market has expanded considerably in recent years leading to the firm opening sales offices in Europe, China and the Middle East to serve customers in more than 40 countries.

Mill Hill will continue with a reduced number of operations including packaging net manufacture, testing laboratories, tool room, sales and administration.

Netlon makes a wide range of plastic goods, including netting for the gardening and agricultural industries, and products for use in other industrial processes.

It has been established in Blackburn since 1959. In the 1980s the company expanded and opened the Shadsworth site which focused on high-strength plastic goods used in civil engineering.

Netlon was once one of the town's largest employers. It currently has around 250 staff, most of them in Blackburn.