A SIGNIFICANT' number of jobs could be lost at an historic factory which has existed in Blackburn since the 1920s.

Voith Paper Fabrics Blackburn Ltd, Cartmel Road, has announced it is to start a consultation process on plans to reorganise the firm.

Currently Voith, part of a privately owned German firm, employs about 260 people across two production divisions, or plants, supplying fabrics to the world's pulp and paper industry.

Under the plans, which have been caused by a significant drop in demand', one of the plants, the press plant, could be closed and the other, the dryer plant, would also suffer some redundancies.

The firm hopes a reorganisation could give it a long-term future in the town.

A spokesman for the firm said: "As a part of this strategy the proposed modernisation of the dryer division may require a limited number of redundancies within the Blackburn dryer division in the short-term.

"However, the company is also considering significant investment in the Blackburn Dryer plant in the future.

"The proposal is likely to have most impact on the company's press division and we will shortly be commencing formal consultation with the trade union and elected employee representatives for all potentially affected employees to discuss our proposal.

"We very much regret the concern that will be caused to all our employees by this proposal, but the company sincerely believes this proposal is necessary to ensure the long-term success of its Blackburn operations."

A factory has existed on the Cartmel Road site since the 1920s and has gone through a number of name changes.

It was previously part of the Blackburn-based Scapa group until 1999 when it was sold to Voith.