BAE to close their Woodford plant

I know Woodford is in Stockport and not Tameside, but this closure will impact upon on Tameside. Especially my friend Derek from Denton who is currently working on the Nimrod upgrade programme at Woodford.

The run down of the historic and strategically important Woodford plant started a number of years ago with the insane decision to cease production of the award winning Avro RJX regional jet (pictured above). Not only do I know a worker who was involved in the manufacture of these fine aircraft, I also know a pilot who still flies one. The decision to end production came about when BAE could not find a suitable partner in the far east to go into partnership with to help develop on the next generation RJX. The RJX programme was not a loss maker for BAE; it just about broke even. My friend from Denton was there (at the Woodford factory) the day BAE set about cutting up the jig used to manufacture the airframe. This piece of high tech precision equipment was literally cut up for scrap - only in Britain! Imagine the Germans or French allowing this to happen to one of their key manufactures - no you can’t because it would never happen! Woodford even has a secret underground aviation fuel pipeline, dating back to the cold war, linking it with Manchester Airport for times of war.

I believe strategic sites and industries should be protected from closure by the state. This is at odds with the free market philosophy of the current ‘big three’ of the British political scene as well as UKIP. What do you think, should BAE be allowed to close this site or should it be kept open in the national strategic interest?

Read more about the historic Woodford site here