JOB cuts are on the cards at Castle Cement’s Padeswood plant. The company has been hit by the downturn in construction industry and has written to workers in the distribution department warning them jobs are under threat. The company employs 250 people at Padeswood, and also has plants at Ribblesdale, near Clitheroe, and Ketton, in Lincolnshire. Mark Cox, general manager at Padeswood, said: “We do not know how many jobs will go in the distribution department, which covers our three plants. “The company has cut production because of the downturn in demand, but Padeswood is not affected. We achieved the reduction by mothballing one of the two kilns at Ketton.” Mr Cox is confident Government measures to boost the economy will be successful, which he said would in turn revive the construction industry, increasing the demand for cement. Letters warning the workforce in the distribution department that job cuts are on the cards have been sent out by the company. “We can’t put a number on the jobs under threat because we are still in consultations,” added Mr Cox. Castle invested £64m in its kiln, which produces about 800,000 tonnes of cement annually using stone from the company’s Cefn Mawr quarry, near Gwernaffield. In June, the company revealed plans were in the pipeline to invest a further £9m in the Padeswood plant. The number five mill project involves new plants to grind clinker produced by the kiln into cement. The same month, the company announced a cut in production because of the recession in the building industry. | 
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