Battle starts over wartime works

English Heritage said parts of the factory should be given listed status

A campaign has started to save a factory that played a key role in the Battle of Britain during World War II.

The aluminium works at Banbury, Oxfordshire, is to close by the end of the year with the loss of 330 jobs.

It produced aluminium used in fighter planes and Banbury Civic Society wants the buildings saved as a memorial to those involved in the wartime effort.

Owner Sapa Profiles has claimed preserving part of the building would make the site harder to sell.

The art deco office block and the gates should be given listed building protection, but the rolling mills had been changed too much to deserve listing, English Heritage said.

Rob Kinchin-Smith, chairman of Banbury Civic Society, told the BBC: "If one loses the rolling mills, the offices will become meaningless in terms of a memorial to the 12,000 people who worked there during World War II.

'Local pride'

"They are an iconic representation of the heroic exertions of the people of Banbury - their contribution to the winning of the war - and it's a matter of enormous local pride."

The society collected 550 signatures in a single day, calling for the mills to be kept.

Cherwell District Council has agreed an informal planning brief to guide future development of the site, which encourages would-be buyers to retain the rolling mills, but cannot insist on it.

Chris May, Sapa's operations director at Banbury, told the council's executive the brief could put off potential buyers and stop new jobs being created on the site.

He said: "The brief will probably confuse potential purchasers, and could therefore prejudice the sale of the property.

"The buildings are obsolete. Conversion is not economically viable. At best they are likely to be only suitable for low-grade storing on a short-term basis."

Banbury Civic Society has asked the district council to declare the aluminium works a conservation area - without success.

Mr Kinchin-Smith said: "Unless the council creates a conservation area, there's a possibility that as soon as the gates close the owners will go in and flatten that site. We've got to stop that happening."