By Liz Fowler

Management at the GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceuticals plant in Montrose yesterday categorically denied the donation of a £750,000 cheque to the local community was a sweetener to soften the blow of final closure of the site and the loss of more than 400 jobs.

The company confirmed the money was part of a £1 million package aimed at cushioning the effect on the local economy of its downsizing at Montrose, with £250,000 going directly to help departing employees.

But Tom Mahon, vice-president and site director, GSK Montrose, strenuously denied a hidden agenda behind the six-figure package.

When it became clear that the Montrose plant had become surplus to GSK’s rationalising global network requirement, he said, sale with supply had been advised as the best option and they were still following that option.

Denying only two buildings on the sprawling 47-acre site remained operational, he said 15 products were being manufactured at Montrose and there remained a serious intention to build on that scale of operation, albeit the plant would be under different ownership.

Though no details have been given, he re-asserted that two leading contenders had emerged as potential purchasers for the site.

Initial details of the Angus and Mearns economic development fund emerged earlier this week, and it was officially launched yesterday at the Montrose factory when the £750,000 cheque was formally presented by John Elliot, senior vice-president GSK primary supply.

Grants from the fund will support initiatives including helping people back into work, skills training and business start-up and expansion. GSK has worked closely with Scottish Enterprise Tayside to identify ways the money can be used most effectively.

The fund will be administered by Scottish Business in the Community, already a beneficiary, having been awarded £100,000 to set up an Angus business support group.

GSK was keen to mitigate the effects on the local economy of changes to its Montrose operation, said Mr Elliot.

In June 2001, as part of the rationalisation of its global manufacturing network, the company announced it was to transfer a number of activities from Montrose, while offering the site for sale with contracts to supply a range of GSK products.

Since then the Montrose site workforce has fallen from 700 to fewer than 500.

A further workforce reduction programme was announced when a prospective sale to a Dutch pharmaceutical company fell through in March. The intention now is to get the numbers down at the Montrose plant to a maximum of 260.

In a further blow to workers, they have just been told that from next January the night shift will be transferred to regular working hours, with only a skeleton staff working off-peak. It will be the first time in the company’s history that it has not operated around the clock in Montrose.

“When GSK embarks on a change which it recognises will impact on a local community it looks for ways to offset this and to help the local economy make up the loss,” said Mr Elliot. “We are here today to help soften the impact when a major employer goes into significant restructure.

“We devote substantial resources and work closely with local agencies to determine where to target the support. We believe the Angus and Mearns economic development fund will have the resources and right partners to make a real contribution, offering meaningful and effective support, and giving immeasurable value for our money.”

Chief executive of Scottish Enterprise Tayside, Shona Cormack, calculated that the new development fund could help create 150 new jobs in Angus and Mearns, help 150 employees receive specialised training; help 100 companies with financial assistance; and help 325 unemployed people into active employment.

The vice-chairman of Scottish Business in the Community, Mark Laing, described the fund as a dynamic imaginative response to difficult commercial problems.

Showing commitment to the local community in which the firm had operated for many years, he said, was a clear demonstration from GSK of corporate social responsibility.