THE final countdown has begun for Blackburn's Royal Ordnance factory to close in about a year.

A total of 120 jobs will be affected by the closure of the Roman Road factory, for many years known as "The Fuze," which was once the town's largest employer with more than 5,000 people working on munitions.

Royal Ordnance confirmed that talks have begun with employees on the timetable for bringing more than 60 years of manufacturing tradition to an end.

RO spokeswoman Marylin Swann confirmed that the plant would close in mid-2002. There are just two manufacturing units left at Roman Road following the transfer of the electronics business to Shadsworth.

She said the decision to close the components division, which employs around 60 people, had now been taken and a consultation programme had begun. Remaining work would be transferred to other Royal Ordance factories. She said no decision had been reached on where the fuzes business would be relocated. About 60 more people would be affected.

Ms Swann said: "Work is being done now to finalise the details. There are options for people to transfer to other parts of the company, and retraining and reskills programmes will be available to help the staff concerned."

For a further 100 workers, however, there was hope of a brighter future after they moved into a new factory at Shadsworth following a multi-million-investment programme by parent company BA Systems.

Employees at the unit, now part of the company's Avionics division, design and manufacture the world-beating ROVIS intercom system for tanks and armoured vehicles.

Spokesman Dennis Burton said: "It has an established world-wide consumer base which is expanding. We are also developing the product for new markets."