Following its acquisition of DS Smith earlier this year, International Paper confirmed the proposed closure of five of its UK packaging sites last month.

The US company had said the move was “to improve efficiencies and to respond to the evolving needs of our customers in what are tough trading conditions for the industry”.

DS Smith has now confirmed to Printweek that the proposal relates to its box plant in Clay Cross, Derbyshire, and sheet plants in Plymouth, Newcastle, Sheerness, and Wellingborough.

The company has also proposed the relocation of its Milton Keynes business, the move from 24-7 to 24-5 operations at its Burscough site, and a small headcount reduction at its sites in Redditch and Launceston.

The business added that until the consultation process has been concluded, it could not confirm how many jobs would be affected.

However, International Paper had said last month that it expected the proposals would be implemented by the end of this calendar year and that approximately 300 roles may be affected.

Derbyshire Times reported that North East Derbyshire MP Louise Jones attended a meeting at the Clay Cross site to discuss the situation last week.

She said she was “deeply concerned to hear of proposals to close the site”, which employs 140 people directly and has been in operation for over 50 years.

Jones said there were “a number of outstanding questions” around the reasons for the proposed closure and she hoped DS Smith would “provide the necessary information and work with us to ensure that there truly is no alternative”.

Nearly all of the staff at Clay Cross are members of the GMB trade union.

Commenting in May, GMB national officer Matt Roberts had described the closures as ‘brutal’. He said: “The loyal DS Smith workforce were reassured throughout the takeover that it would be a positive step.

“But brutal closures of multiple sites and savage job cuts at others so soon into the new ownership are way beyond their worst fears.

“This cruel move is a huge shock for these workers, their families and their communities - not to mention a disaster for this strategically important industry.”

Speaking to Printweek today (16 June), GMB regional organiser Colin Whyatt said the proposed closure of the Clay Cross site was “a bolt out of the blue”.

He said the union had been in talks with the employer and that another consultation meeting was planned for this Friday.

“As with all consultations, they’re telling us that it’s not a done deal yet, but I feel that it’s going to be extremely difficult to overturn their original decision.

“Obviously we’re going to go back to them with a number of proposals which we feel could mitigate the closure; whether they take that on board or not will remain to be seen.

“I have pointed out to them that they are duty bound to try and mitigate job losses via compulsory redundancy. There are loads of different things we are going to be tabling, but my concern is that they’re just going to go through this consultation as a tick-box exercise.”

Whyatt added he believed there would be an offer of deployment where possible, but that it would be “a limited number” and that there were not many other DS Smith sites in the area, the nearest being Belper around 10 miles away.

Printweek understands there had been some recent investment made at the Clay Cross site, including in a Bobst casemaker. A Gopfert press is among other machinery understood to be run at the site.

International Paper employs more than 65,000 staff and has operations in over 30 countries. Its net sales for 2024 were $18.6bn (£13.8m).