SOME workers feared the worst from the moment Webbs Country Foods was taken over by the poultry giant Faccenda in December.

Was it really the beginning of the great new world of opportunity which Faccenda claimed it was; or was it the beginning of the end for one of the biggest chicken processing factories in South-West Hampshire?

It turned out to be the beginning of the end. And now that Faccenda has said it will be closing the gates of its factory in Bridge Road, Lymington, bosses have put out a plea to other potential employers throughout the southern part of Hampshire to help find jobs for redundant workers.

About 500 Webbs employees will lose their jobs when the factory closes on April 27. The Lymington site general manager Derek Samuels is hoping to speak to other firms who might have vacancies.

"We have a highly-motivated, very skilled workforce and as a company we will be asking firms on the lookout for workers to contact us.

"We could provide the room, the facilities and the time here for any consultations to take place and we will be doing everything we can to help find openings for our employees," he said.

The company, which draws its employees from an area stretching from Boscombe in Bournemouth to Southampton and as far north as Winchester, is also looking to the wider surrounding area for job vacancies.

Parent company Faccenda has said all its employees will be offered positions which will be created elsewhere in the group.

But its main centres 'elsewhere' are at Sutton Benger in Wiltshire, Telford in Shropshire, Dudley in the West Midlands and its head office at Brackley Northamptonshire.

It does have a processing plant at Okeford Fitzpaine in Dorset, but the early indications are that most staff will not go for a complete upheaval to another part of the country.

New Forest District Council is also looking at the impact of the impending closure, which has been described by council leader Simon Hayes as "a blow for Lymington".

But he is optimistic that other employee sites will be created and he said: "We are putting a new economic strategy into place and are determined to attract new businesses to the area.

"We will be looking at the Webbs site itself as this will be an important contribution to the growth of the area."

The council's economic development officer Neil Miller said unemployment in the district at present stands at 1.4 per cent.

The percentage slightly higher in the Pennington and Fawley areas than in other parts of the Forest.

Forty per cent of Webbs' workers are from the Totton and Waterside areas, with around 10 per cent from Lymington, 10 per cent from New Milton and the remainder from the surrounding area, including Christ-church.

That sparked an immediate concern from New Forest East MP Dr Julian Lewis.

He said: "It is a sad day for our community."

The factory itself is actually in the constituency of New Forest West MP Desmond Swayne.

He has been in touch with Faccenda and is hoping to have detailed talks to establish the reasons behind its decision.

He said: "It is a blow to the community.

"People are going to be offered jobs in places like Telford and Dudley, but if you live in Lymington or Highcliffe that's not a lot of use."

David Keeble, Webbs' processing director, said yesterday that the parent company had taken a close look at the operation and had decided to consolidate production.

"The poultry market has changed dramatically in the past few years and companies are having to be very cost efficient."