Amazon announces plan to close its first centre in UK

Online giant Amazon is planning to close one of its fulfilment centres, offering workers the chance to transfer to another site.

The company announced a consultation on a proposal to close the site in Milton Keynes, which was the first Amazon centre to open in 1998.

Amazon said the 590 employees affected by the announcement will be offered a transfer to its new site in Northampton or to other centres.

An Amazon spokesman said: “We’re always evaluating our network to make sure it fits our business needs and to improve the experience for our employees and customers.

“Today we’ve announced a consultation on a proposal to close our fulfilment centre in Milton Keynes and to offer employees an opportunity to transfer to our brand-new site in Northampton – a larger, state-of-the-art building which will employ up to 2,000 people – or to other Amazon sites.

“Our top priority is to support our people during this process.”

Amazon said a collective consultation will now begin with the affected employees, who will be offered an opportunity to transfer to its new Northampton site – which will be employing 1,400 people initially, rising to 2,000 – or to other Amazon sites.

The £500 million Northampton building is scheduled to open in May.

A large Amazon sortation centre, which forms a separate part of its logistics business, is also based in Milton Keynes and is unaffected by the proposals.