WORKERS at an Ipswich factory were today arriving for work for one of the last times after it was announced the plant is to close next month .Plastics firm bpi.

WORKERS at an Ipswich factory were today arriving for work for one of the last times after it was announced the plant is to close next month .

Plastics firm bpi.stretchfilms has announced it has come to an agreement with its 67 Ipswich staff that its factory in Farthing Road will shut down in June.

The decision followed a week of speculation about the plant's future after the firm's bosses revealed intentions for the closure in a statement to the annual meeting.

The bosses said that both the company's plants in Ipswich and Redditch had been earmarked for closure, leading to a total of 80 job losses.

Talks took place between management and staff at the Ipswich plant about the possible closure last week and further talks were held on Tuesday, when the agreement was reached.

A bpi.stretchfilms spokesman said: "The employees have agreed to the closure of the site.

"There'll be an orderly run down of the plant and I guess that will be completed in June."

The factory, which makes clingfilm and plastic packaging and was formerly known as Gooch Plastics, is one of four around the country owned by British Polythene Industries.

After the initial closure talks last week a spokesman for the company said the site closures were a result of the "competitive market" the company was working in.

It is understood some staff with be offered transfers to the company's plants at Widnes, in Cheshire, and Bridgwater, in Somerset, but it is unclear how many, if any, would be willing to accept such a move.

The spokesman said: "We will do our best to look after people in the circumstances."

The closure announcement is the second in Ipswich in recent weeks after Agilent Technologies revealed it would be closing its Whitehouse Road site at the cost of 35 jobs. That closure is expected within three months.