WORCESTER councillors have vowed to fight for the jobs of 700 workers facing redundancy at the former Kays catalogue firm.

High-ranking local authority members held an emergency meeting with the company's current owners, Littlewoods Shop Direct, to discuss the proposals to close the warehousing and distribution sites in Bransford Road, St John's.

The leader of the city council Stephen Inman cabinet member for economic development Martin Clarke and chief executive David Wareing met with David Simons, chairman of Littlewoods Shop Direct, and Lucy Mitchell, the company's personnel director, to discuss the reasons behind the move.

Councillor Inman said: "The purpose of the meeting was to discover from the company at the highest level what the rationale is for closing Kays and to examine how we could support the efforts of the unions and workforce to keep the warehousing and distribution plant in the city. It was a very useful discussion and David Simons was more than willing to outline the reasons behind the proposed closure, and also to have those reasons challenged."

Councillor Clarke vowed to work with the unions to keep the site open.

Speaking after the meeting, he said: "We will sit down with the unions, and if any workable options emerge to challenge or amend the proposals to wind up the St John's operation, we will see how we can support them."

The Transport and General Workers' Union has commissioned a financial analysis of the business case for closure, and will put its case forward in a meeting with Littlewoods Shop Direct this Friday.

Workers at the site will be told next week whether their jobs have been saved.

It was stressed at the meeting that while the St John's site is under threat, there are no plans for the company to close its successful call centre at Newtown Road, which employs more than 600 people.

On behalf of Littlewoods Shop Direct chairman David Simons said: "We welcome the constructive dialogue and will continue working with both the trade union and the city council in order to minimise the effect of our plans on the workforce at Worcester."