A task force has been assembled to help workers from the Clarks shoe factory find new jobs after it closes later this year.
Over 100 jobs at the factory Abbeyfield factory in Barnstaple closes in April so production can move abroad.
The setting up of the task force follows an urgent meeting between representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and the JobCentre to try and find solutions.
North Devon MP Nick Harvey has promised to write to the trade and industry ministers highlighting the issues of the troubled manufacturing industry in the area in the hope they will take it into account when allocating funds to bodies such as the Regional Development Agency.
The Clarks factory at Braunton Road will be closed down so that work can be transferred to the Far East where production costs are cheaper.
The closure means there will be just two Clarks factories operating in the UK, at Ilminster in Somerset and Millam in Cumbria, both of which make children's shoes.
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