Amazon to close Milton Keynes fulfilment centre, affecting 590 workers

Amazon is planning to close one of its UK 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 the UK, in 1998.Amazon said the 590 employees affected will be offered a transfer to its new site in Northampton, or to other centres.A spokesperson 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.”The new £500m Northampton site is due to open in May and will initially have 1,400 staff.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.