More than 200 jobs will go at Burton’s Foods’ Moreton plant following the announcement it is to shut down the biscuit site.

The firm said it will retain its chocolate refinery at Moreton and the jobs of 60 employees, and plans to put £2.8m of capital investment in the plant. However, 219 jobs will go as a result of the closure of the rest of the factory in Wirral. A spokesperson for the company told British Baker that 109 of these job losses were in biscuit production.

A range of Cadbury biscuits are currently produced, under licence, at the Moreton site. It is planned that production of these will move to its site in Edinburgh, while its chocolate moulded products will be transferred to Llantarnam, South Wales explained the spokesperson. "We are now determining how this disbursement will be managed."

Unite the Union’s proposal to retain a seasonal assortment packing operation at Moreton was rejected as being commercially unviable, said the firm. "Subject to full commercial agreement, it is proposed that seasonal assortment packing will be outsourced to DHL, resulting in the proposed TUPE transfer of 58 employees from Moreton to DHL operations, which is currently proposed to move from its existing Knowsley site, to a new facility in G Park, Liverpool."

Earlier this year, Burton’s blamed a challenging and competitive environment, over-capacity in its manufacturing operation and high commodity cost inflation for its proposal to close the site, which it said formed part of a new £25m three-year capital spending programme to build production capabilities at its manufacturing sites in Edinburgh and Llantarnam.