ANOTHER 350 job losses are in the pipeline at Rolls-Royce’s fan blade site in East Lancashire.

The aero-engine giant is also looking at merging the two factories in Barnoldswick.

It has two adjoining production units in the town ­— Bankfield and Ghyll Brow ­— which at the beginning of the year employed 740 staff,

Some 350 jobs are at risk on top of 220 redundancies announced in June which could leave the site with just 170 workers.

Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson branded the news ‘devastating’ while Miranda Barker, chief executive of the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, said it was ‘really concerning’.

Mohammed Iqbal, leader of Pendle Council, said the announcement was ‘very disappointing’.

A Rolls-Royce spokeswoman said the firm, hit by a coronavirus downturn in the aerospace market, was proposing to reduce its activities at the Bankfield site. Under the proposals, it would no longer manufacture wide chord fan blades for its newer Trent engines by autumn 2023 with the work going to Singapore.

A technical support centre and new product development hub will remain at Bankfield, as well as manufacture of blades for older engine types.

A Rolls-Royce spokeswoman said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has created a historic shock in civil aviation which will take several years to recover.

“Demand for our civil aerospace products and services has fallen significantly and we’ve had to take difficult, but necessary decisions to position ourselves for the future.

“We have told our employees in Barnoldswick that we are proposing to reduce our activities at Bankfield, which will no longer manufacture wide chord fan blades for our newer Trent engines.

“We are also exploring options to consolidate work at Ghyll Brow into Bankfield.

Mr Stephenson said: “This devastating news for the staff, the whole Pendle, East Lancashire and the aerospace supply chain across the county. These are massive redundancies.”

Ms Barker said: “This is really concerning news, especially as this seems we’re losing the local manufacture of the newer Rolls-Royce parts meaning more concern for the future of the site in the long term.”

Cllr Iqbal said: “I've asked for government intervention to help the aerospace industry in Pendle but it appears Rolls-Royce have been let down.”

Mr Stephenson added: “As these are currently only proposals, there is some hope that we can get the company to change their mind, so I am actively working with ministers to see what can be done”