By ALAN CALVERT, Industrial Editor A GROUND-BREAKING scheme is tackling vital training needs in the local paper and paper board industry.

Bolton Bury Training and Enterprise Council was the catalyst three years ago for a local sector group which considers issues common to seven Bolton and Bury firms operating 10 mills with a total of 2,189 employees.

This led to a frank examination of problems and the realisation that best interests could no longer be served by continuing the widespread "down-sizing" which has led to hundreds of local jobs disappearing in the industry over the last 10 years.

Mr Richard Bindless, the BBTEC Chief Executive, worked on a training solution with the Chairman of the Sector Group, Mr David Dredge, Managing Director of Robert Fletcher (Stoneclough) Ltd.

It resulted in a successful application for cash from the national TEC Discretionary Fund.

The local bid secured £132,550 over three years and this figure will be matched in total through individual contributions from the companies involved.

These are BPB Radcliffe, JR Crompton, Fort Sterling, East Lancs, Robert Fletcher, Radcliffe Paper Tubes and Danisco.

The Paper Federation of Great Britain, Bury College and UMIST are making non-cash contributions.

BBTEC's successful submission earlier this year pointed out that the mills, whose training resources were very tight, took few new recruits on board but desperately needed to retrain their existing workforces into new technologies and technician and managerial skills.

"This bid is a bold attempt to provide a real boost to the rejuvenation of this workforce as it stands with the longer term ambition of introducing a culture of lifetime learning into this local industry," it said in the submission.

BBTEC Training Officer Sue Bain said managers had identified the fact that there was an ageing workforce and that there could have been a skills shortage before long if nothing was done about it.

"They realised that they needed more investment in training," she said.

"This initiative is unique to the Bolton and Bury area.

"We have to develop the younger employees to make sure that we have the skills for the future as the older ones retire," Mr Fackey said.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.