Westland to chop 950 jobs

HUNDREDS of jobs are to go at Westland Helicopters factories in Somerset as orders for its Lynx, Apache and EH101 models are falling despite a recent link with Italian helicopters group Agusta.

Westland has factories in Yeovil and Weston-super-Mare with smaller units making specialised engineering products. Between them they employ 5,250 workers but they will be told at a meeting today that 950 production and office jobs are to be axed.

The group hit the headlines 16 years ago when former Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine controversially resigned from Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet over its sale to the US. Since 1999, it has been owned by a British-Italian consortium created by engineering giant GKN and Italy's Finmeccanica.

Despite being Europe's biggest helicopter maker, it has faced growing competition from American giants such as Boeing, while defence spending has slipped across Europe, with many countries not taking up orders.

Westland has already asked for voluntary redundancies and 200 people have put their names forward. The firm refused to comment on the cull but staff fear production lines may now be concentrated at Agusta factories in Italy.