POWER supplier Transco is to close its Spa Road headquarters with the loss of 180 Bolton jobs.

The offices on the outskirts of the town centre will close by next summer, management told staff and unions on Monday morning.

A spokesman for National Grid Transco said: "A decision has been made to close NGT's Bolton office as a result of restructuring that has taken place since the sale of four gas networks earlier this year."

Unison, the office workers' union that represents the majority of people at the site, described the announcement as "savage restructuring" and threatened to ballot members for strike action.

The company said employees in Bolton would be offered alternative jobs in one of four other North-west locations -- Hollinwood near Oldham, Stretford in Manchester, Garston near Liverpool and a new office to be based either in Lancaster or Preston.

The spokesman said there would be no compulsory redundancies, but employees who were not able to relocate would be offered a voluntary redundancy package.

He added: "There are enough positions at the other sites to accommodate the jobs that will be lost in Bolton.

"The Spa Road site came into being as a result of previous restructuring. Many workers have relocated to this office, but they did not actually move to the town, preferring to commute.

"We're hopeful that the new structure, with jobs being spread around the region, will actually be a change for the better for many of the staff currently based in Bolton."

But Dave Johnson, Unison's national officer for gas membership, said there were actually very few jobs on offer in the North-west.

"There are 14 jobs available at Hollinwood, two at Stretford, two at Garston and that is it," he said. "The rest of the people will have to relocate to NGT's headquarters in Northampton and Hinckley, with maybe a few other posts in Warwick, or face redundancy."

Mr Johnson said the union had improved the redundancy package, but was still critical of NGT's decision.

He said: "We are at the beginning of a consultation process, after which we will attempt to dissuade the company from going ahead with its office closure, although we are not optimistic.

"We have told our members that if they are not happy with the result of the consultation and want to consider some form of strike action, we will ballot them."

Cllr Barbara Ronson, leader of Bolton Council, said: "I would be very sorry to lose the Transco headquarters. Nobody wants to lose jobs, as it affects us economically and we lose a local contact with the service."

These services are extremely useful and Transo has been a local operator for some time.

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He added that the union may ballot its members over industrial action if they are not satisfied with the outcome of the consultation process.

NGT sold four of its gas distribution networks for £5.8 billion in August, to a consortia which included Scottish & Southern Energy and United Utilities.

The sale left the company with the West Midlands, London, East of England and North-west distribution networks.

The company is moving away from a geographical set-up to a more process-structured business model.

A spokesman said the company remained optimistic that the majority of employees would be retained by NGT.