Eleventh hour talks take place tomorrow in a bid to avert yet another serious factory closure in York with the loss of 64 jobs

A last-ditch plan has already been submitted to the Baxi Group to persuade it not to close its heating systems subsidiary Range Powermax in Clifton Moor, to switch operations to a plant in Norwich.

Trade unions and other worker representatives will meet the group's finance director Simon Oliver at the plant in James Nicholson Link tomorrow in the hope of getting a positive reaction to their business plan.

The plan, drawn up with the help of Bryn Jones, manager of the City of York economic development unit, is designed to lop £750,000 worth of operational costs from the Clifton Moor factory and concedes some redundancies.

John Kirk, North Yorkshire regional organiser of the GMB Union which represents about 40 of the Range Powermax workers at Clifton Moor, said: "Obviously we will have to concede to an extent but the bulk of the jobs could be saved."

One solution being offered was to "annualise" working hours to average out peaks and troughs in demand. Fixing the hours rather than making them variable would allow the company to calculate fixed costs and make substantial savings, he said.

He added: "A lot of administrative and sales work at York could be undertaken centrally which would allow production to continue."

The plan also calls for training to produce free standing stainless steel central heating boilers such as the ones produced at Norwich, rather than the less efficient copper variety.

Economists in the York area are worried about Baxi's closure plans, not least because it comes on the back of announcements of other major shut-downs planned in the city.

These include the news that nearby Clifton Moor packaging factory Lawson Mardon is to close at the end of June with the loss of 76 jobs and there is a question mark hanging over 88 jobs at York Gas, also scheduled to close in June.

Updated: 09:37 Monday, May 21, 2001