340 store jobs bonanza

The partnership plan, which was revealed today, would see the supermarket relocate from Moor Lane to the Hick Hargreaves site on Crook Street enabling the heavy engineering firm to move to a new more suitable location elsewhere in Bolton.

Plans have been submitted to Bolton Council outlining details of the proposal. Hick Hargreaves have been looking to move from their existing premises for the last three years and the workforce has been cut by more than 100 in the past 12 months.

Hick Hargreaves managing director Kevan Gradwell said: "If the plans proceed, then the remaining 140 manufacturing jobs at our firm will be saved. We will relocate within Bolton, keeping our historic links stretching back over 170 years with the town firmly intact. We should then be in a better position to grow." Development

The engineering firm has earmarked several possible new sites but talks are continuing and no final decision has yet been made.

Sainsbury's bosses say that as well as saving jobs and creating new employment the plan will also ensure that they keep a supermarket in the town centre, rather than an out of town development.

They also say that the relocation would release the current Moor Lane site for the benefit of the town.

A range of leisure uses are currently under consideration. As reported in the BEN earlier this year, one proposal is to re-develop that area of town as a 'family quarter' with a new Water Place, cinema, hotel and other attractions.

The proposed new supermarket would have a staff of nearly 450, almost double the numbers in the existing store.

Sainsbury's development executive Kevin Macmillan said: "The proposals to relocate the store could not have come at a better time for Bolton, which as a town has experienced a number of redundancies in recent months."

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