UP TO 26 jobs will be lost with the closure of AA Griggs Distribution depot based in Smithyard Lane, Watchet.

But company bosses have been quick to stress that the job losses will not affect production at the neighbouring Wansbrough Paper Mill which employs more than 200 people.

Both the haulage company and the mill are owned by the St Regis Paper Company, which is still in consultation with its AA Griggs staff in Watchet.

Employees were told last week that the depot could be closed in a sweeping review of the distribution company's nationwide operations.

Union representatives, staff and company bosses met on Tuesday to discuss the various options, and yesterday (Thursday) St Regis Paper Company's divisional personnel manager Colin Griffiths confirmed that the Watchet base would close.

Operations will now be centred at the company's Avonmouth base, which in turn will be creating 20 new driving jobs as a result of the move.

Mr Griffiths said the Smithyard base was not the only one closing in the country and he hoped the West Somerset drivers would consider relocating to Avonmouth, near Bristol.

He told the Free Press: "We can offer quite a few people continuity with the creation of new jobs in Avonmouth.

"We never force people to move, but if they don't choose to move then their positions will become redundant."

Union representatives are due to have more talks with staff this weekend, while further negotiations on relocation and redundancy packages will take place with company bosses next week.

Mr Griffiths said he could not say how many people were likely to relocate or when it was likely to happen as talks were still at an early stage.

Watchet town and district councillor Sally de Renzy-Martin said the news was another blow for Watchet's economy.

She admitted she was surprised by the decision and feared for the future of the workforce.

She said: "They won't all be Watchet jobs but the vast majority will be, which is yet another blow to the town and the surrounding area.

"I hope those who are made redundant are offered good re-training opportunities as finding alternative transport jobs in West Somerset is going to be difficult."

Her town and district council colleague David Banks said the job losses would be felt throughout the community, especially as the company was always keen to get involved with projects such as the local carnival.

He said: "This is a tremendous shock to the community, the loss of full-time, well paid jobs which would have been enjoyed by married men with mortgages and families.

"It was a custom-built depot and a streamlined fleet of lorries all bearing new logos, so one would have thought everything was OK."

He added: "We will have to watch the situation closely."

Once the depot is closed, the site could be used as an additional storage area for the mill, which at one time was one of the biggest recycling mills in Europe.

More than 98 per cent of its business involves recycling, creating products such as brown paper bags and cardboard tubes.

Over the last decade Watchet has been hit by a number of significant job losses including the collapse of Bon Bakery, the demise of the docks and last year's package of redundancies and early retirements at the mill.