THE largest private employer in a job-starved area of County Durham is to cut 50 jobs, it was confirmed last night.

The redundancies are at William Cook Defence, which makes tank tracks, in Stanhope, Weardale.

Employees will be told who is affected next week.

Weardale suffered during the foot-and-mouth crisis four years ago and was also hit when French group Lafarge closed the Blue Circle cement works, in Eastgate with the loss of 147 jobs.

John Shuttleworth, ward member for Durham County Council, said the job cuts will have a serious impact.

"We could see as many as 25 families moving away to find new jobs, which will have a big affect on the rural area. I feel desperately for those involved," he said.

Coun Shuttleworth said he would have liked more involvement during the company's 30-day consultation with trade unions and employee representatives, which ended yesterday.

"The county council would be happy to support the workers affected. If I had been more involved, I could have perhaps set up a mini task group, for example, to help people find new jobs in the region."

William Cook Defence, formerly George Blair Limited, has more than 250 employees, manufacturing components for the defence, construction and freight-handling industries.

In total, 40 shop floor workers and ten office staff will be laid off. Some of the redundancies have been made voluntarily by people nearing retirement age or on long-term sickness absence.

Managing director Phil Kite was unavailable for comment last night, but issued a statement at the beginning of the consultation period that said the company had experienced a significant downturn in its UK defence business.

It has traditionally supplied all the British Army tracked vehicles, but has faced stiff competition in recent years from foreign manufacturers.

Stephen Thompkins, from the GMB union, which represents the workers together with Amicus, said: "There are a lot of large service industries that have been hit hard and William Cook Defence is no exception.

"There has been a downturn in the company's workload and it had no choice but to make these redundancies.

"We are working closely with the company and will know even more when the individual workers concerned are informed next week."

The Stanhope plant has been part of Sheffield-based William Cook Cast Products since a £16m takeover in 1989.

Sister operation William Cook Tow Law will not be affected.