URGENT talks were taking place yesterday after it was announced a leading employer is to shed about 130 engineering jobs in Redditch.

Honeywell, which took over Hymatic Group in January, announced on Monday it was to combine its airframe systems business on one site in Yeovil, Somerset.

About 130 of the 230 jobs at the North Moons Moat site are set to be hit as a result of the move, expected to be completed by the end of the year.

A Honeywell spokesman said: "During our consultation with employee representatives, our objective will be to mitigate the impact of this decision and therefore minimise the number of employees who lose their jobs.

"Where we have suitable opportunities we will offer those employees who currently work in the direct production and direct engineering areas opportunities to relocate to Yeovil.

"We realise not everyone will be willing or able to relocate. Therefore, we will offer them a severance package as determined through consultation with the employee representatives. For these reasons, it's difficult to estimate the net reduction in jobs."

The spokesman said the reason the company was moving the product line from Redditch was to "take advantage of similarities in operations on both sites, to become more efficient, combine strengths, and offer customers a better overall solution".

Honeywell site leader Stuart Whittle, based at Redditch, said: "We understand this announcement represents a major change for employees in Redditch.

"We intend to communicate openly with them throughout this process, offer jobs in Yeovil and provide assistance to those who are not willing or able to relocate to Yeovil.

"The reason for keeping the cryogenic business in Redditch is the great opportunity for growth in this product line."

Yesterday, regional officer for trade union Amicus Tom Keogh said he was to have urgent talks with representatives at the Redditch site before talking to company bosses about their intentions.

He said the union wanted to know why the product line was going at the Redditch site and they would want to see the business case for doing so, which they did not have to accept.

He said: "The company has made a statement of intent which we do not have to accept and quite clearly there is the potential of job losses and we will argue against it."

After talks with representatives, the union will be speaking to workers to get their views about what action they want to take.