Councillors told Amazon’s Rugeley site is expected to close in February

Online retail giant Amazon’s fulfilment centre in Rugeley is expected to close in February, district councillors have been told.

The site is the largest employer in Cannock Chase, with around 1,000 staff, but Amazon is relocating operations to a site in Sutton Coldfield.

The new £500m state of the art fulfilment centre, which is creating 400 new jobs for the region, is less than 20 miles from the site at Power Station Road, Amazon has said. And all employees at the Rugeley centre are being offered roles there or at other Amazon buildings.

Concerns have been raised that some staff currently employed at the Rugeley site who live locally will be unable to travel to the new centre however. Cannock Chase Council is working to support residents affected by the relocation and councillors were given an update at a meeting on Wednesday (September 27).

Dean Piper, the council’s Head of Economic Development and Planning, told members of the Economic Prosperity Scrutiny Committee that the authority had been involved in discussions with Amazon since the announcement about the Rugeley site’s proposed closure in June. The council is also working with organisations such as Cannock College, the National Careers Service and the Department of Work and Pensions to support affected staff.

Mr Piper said: “Amazon have engaged in consultation with the collective workforce and the staff consultation has ended. Amazon have confirmed the closure will go ahead; we understand they are now engaged in one to one consultations with staff.

“We expect to receive further information from them in four to five weeks’ time in terms of what the impact on the local workforce will be and the number that will relocate to the new facility. The closure will be on a phased basis – there will be a gradual ramping down of operations in the next months and they will be looking to close in February next year.

“It will be open for the Christmas period and we are waiting for confirmation from Amazon on what that means in terms of seasonal workforce. Usually they increase the number of seasonal workers quite significantly.

“Our intention is to carry on conversation with Amazon and support affected workers. We will be looking to put a programme of activities in place to support affected workers that will involve a jobs fair, career advice and retraining opportunities available.

“We are gathering intelligence from local employers looking to take on more staff. We are determined to ensure we can support people where possible.”

Councillor Paris Theodorou asked if the authority was considering a transport plan to enable staff living in the district to travel to the Sutton Coldfield site. But Mr Piper said: “No, the council isn’t at this moment in time looking at a plan.

“We have asked Amazon the question whether transport will be provided for people in the Rugeley area to the new site. The council isn’t in a position to provide that transport and we will be asking Amazon to consider that proposal.”