Business and council leaders have agreed a three-point plan to soften the blow of Southampton’s Ford plant closure.

An emergency meeting of the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), an economic development body, has set up a multi-agency task force to help the 500 staff faced with job losses get new skills and training.

The task force will include officers from the LEP , Southampton and Eastleigh councils and the Job Centre.

A £2m grant from the Department for B u s i n e s s , Innovation and Skills that is due to be handed to local entrepreneurs and small businesses with new business and growth proposals will be opened up to Ford workers looking at self-employment and to help Ford suppliers.

The LEP hopes to have the “Bridging The Gap”

scheme up and running by the end of the month.

The third part of the plan will see the LEP seek to put a planning order on the Ford site earmarking it for “high value companies creating significant job opportunities”.

L E P chairman D o u g Morrison, pictured left, the director of Southampton port, said: “Our primary focus at the LEP is job creation and last week’s news that Ford were closing their Southampton plant was a blow to everyone here.

“It is important that we have a strategy in place to respond to the situation. Strategy can only get us so far though and we now need swift action on the ground in Southampton if we are to mitigate the economic impact of the closure.”

LEP director and Southampton City Council leader Richard Williams, who has called for the Ford site to become a new low-tax business enterprise zone, added: “Whilst we are of course sad to lose a company like Ford from the city, I am committed to ensuring the site remains focussed on job creation and will be making this a top priority for my staff.

“With the additional incentives we can put in place, I am hopeful we can secure new job opportunities on the site after Ford close, and the training and skills support we initiate now will ensure our local workforce can secure the new jobs created at the site.”

The taskforce will provide an update to the next Solent LEP board meeting on November 23.