FOLLOWING GSK's announcement it would sell its Ulverston plant within two years key stakeholders have met to set out their strategy for what could be a difficult transition period.

Yesterday the drugs manufacturer said the most likely outcome of the strategic review it is undertaking would be the sale of the North Lonsdale Road site.

Local officials have said their number one priority is ensuring that Ulverston and the South Lakes is a place worth investing in for any potential buyer. A 'prospectus' would be created made to showcase the wealth of skill, experience and other marketable assets found in the area.

Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock is chairing a task force charged with ensuring any future deal for Ulverston works for the benefit of the community.

He said: "Everything that was said about what's happening with the work force at the moment is that this is an enterprise which is a going concern.

"I think it's really important that as many people see that this is an organisation that is still recruiting and has a huge positive future growing and developing the skills of the men and women here."

Mr Woodcock said that for any future deal to be successful, investment was needed now more than ever in the area.

It was highlighted that the expected £350m investment in Ulverston by GSK would have had no small impact on long-term planning by the local authority. Both by Cumbria County Council and by South Lakeland District Council.

Mr Woodcock continued: "We talked about the need for us to focus our efforts on selling the value of the site and the wonderful community in Ulverston and Cumbria. Several members of of the group have been drafting a prospectus that will be able to encapsulate the capacity and experience at the site."

When Ulverston won the bid to attract GSK investment to the area the victory was lauded by the then prime minister David Cameron.

Speaking in March 2012, Mr Cameron said the scheme was: "A major investment that will create many highly-skilled jobs and provide a huge boost to the area."

Mr Woodcock said that as the government were happy to support the town when the sun was shining he expected equal amounts of support following this setback.

He said: "We will have a coordinated drive at various different levels of government. There was an understanding that with the company and the government a contract was made with the area."

Mr Woodcock said just because GSK was divesting itself from the area did not mean vital improvements to the A590 and Furness railway line were not needed. Quite the contrary he stressed future improvement should not "be diminished" by the GSK development.

GSK boss given three to four weeks notice of site closure

The site director at the GSK site in Ulverston has said he was given one month's notice that a review which cast into doubt the plant's very existence would be taking place.

Yesterday (28) Phil Wilson was one of the members of a task force brought together to seek solutions on how to plan for the drug company's withdrawal.

The news came as a huge shock to residents of Ulverston when it was announced in June this year. It was equally as surprising for Mr Wilson who was given just four weeks to plan how to release the information.

He said: "I knew about three to four weeks prior to the announcement that the decision had been made on the biopharm and that a strategic review would take place. We were given three to four weeks on how to communicate that to the work force.

"We were in the same position."

Mr Wilson said the company was in a strong position to sell its stake in the production of cephalosporins antibiotics business.

An audit is currently being undertaken within the Ulverston plan to assess every aspect of the business before it is offered to investors.Mr Wilson said: "If we go down the divestment route there about be a contract handover by this time next year. There are quite a lot of detail that needs to be planned."

The asking price for the business and all relevant assets would be a very difficult sum to estimate says Mr Wilson.

"The cephalosporins business is making large sums of money - hundreds of millions within the business."

He indicated that along with the sale of the actual land the site is on would be the associated procedures which take place at GSK.

Unions: Our work comes later

News continues to emerge about the future of the work force at the Ulverton GSK plant following the announcement the drugs manufacturer is seeking a buyer. At a stakeholder meeting on Thursday (28) representatives from Unite the union were present to speak on behalf of the 325 workers on site. GSK site director Phil Wilson and biopharm site lead Pat McIver said for long periods of time there may not be communication from bosses to the workforce on the proposed sale. They said no news did not mean bad news and that the sale of such a large site would take a long time to finalise. However, regional officer for Unite, Gail Bundy, said there will be a degree of anger amongst workers at that message from management. She said: "People will be frustrated by that. The job we've got in is to explain to them why that is happening. But that it is quite normal for an extensive period of time.

"If you do get a bid then that moves into a period where there will be privacy and confidentiality. It will be our job to explain that. But there has been frustration."

Dave Devonald, also a Unite representative, said the summit will be useful for the union when it comes to making sure GSK does right by its employees. He said: "It's going to help us hold GSK to account."

He said the company owed it's workers for the decades of loyalty shown to the business.

"A lot of its workforce have dedicated their loves to the company."

The union will continue to monitor the situation on site. If a buyer is found it will then be highly pro-active in fighting to protect the contracts and working rights of the plant's workers. However, this is not anticipated to take place until at least the autumn of 2019.

Conservatives fume at GSK summit snub

Furious politicians have spoken out after they were allegedly snubbed by not being invited to a cross-party summit. Yesterday (28) at the Coronation Hall in Ulverston talks resumed between key stakeholders in the town's GSK plant. However, Conservative members of South Lakeland District Council and Cumbria County Council were not present.

This was not the case earlier this year when they were invited to the first GSK summit organised by MP John Woodcock.

SLDC councillor for mid Furness, Andrew Butcher, said: "We were there at the first one. "We thought this was cross party and not political. "This is not the first time this has happened. The Save the Post Office campaign was leapt on by Labour. It's not meant to be political."

A spokesman from MP John Woodcock's office issued a statement on why some individuals had not been invited to the summit.

He said: "Invites were not decided on a party basis. A representative of each of the local authorities was invited to keep the group streamlined."

SLDC leaders confident investors will come

The prospect of trying to attract an investor to a site the size of GSK has raised some concern over recent months. An attractive proposal would have to be presented to any company wanting to take on the plant.

However, South Lakeland District Councillor Graham Vincent, portfolio holder for economy and assets, said the area was ideal for any buyer. He said: "Ulverston is still an expanding economy. South Lakeland is an expanding economy. Barrow is expanding on a big scale. "This is a positive position. The housing will be needed, the infrastructure will be needed and they are still needed to serve the businesses that are here."

Cllr Vincent said there were no regrets over the amount of time and money the council had spent in the past attracting GSK's initial investment.

He said: "We find ourselves in difficulty but we would do the same again if another company was to come along.

"In this instance it's not worked out. It's not a reason to feel embittered, it's part of growing a business."