THE first phase in Lister-Petter moving manufacture out of Dursley has been confirmed.

Around 30 of the 180 staff from the Lister-Petter factory in Dursley will be moved to new premises in Quedgeley over the summer.

Diesel engine maker Lister-Petter has said it needs to move out of its Long Street home by March 2012 because the building is not fit for purpose.

Office staff based in the Priory building in Long Street will remain in Dursley, as previously confirmed.

The news has raised fears amongst staff that other parts of the business will be moved further afield, after they were previously told they might be moved to Tewkesbury. Colin Fryer, senior shop steward for Unite, said: "There's still no news on what's going to happen.

"No-one wants to go to Tewkesbury which was an option at one point. Now they're looking at different options, evidently trying to buy somewhere in the locality or build in the locality."

Bryan Draper, Lister-Petter’s chief executive officer, said they would not move away and risk losing out on local expertise, having taken on 12 new staff in the Dursley factory this year alone.

"Diesel engines are quite complicated things and there's a lot of experience that actually goes into building them. One of the things we don't want to do is lose that experience," he said.

"Purely because of the logistics involved in such a move, it means you can't wait until February next year to do it."

Mr Draper said plans needed to be finalised by the end of September this year.

He said that in the last seven years the company had grown substantially and had taken on 100 new staff in the Gloucestershire area.

"We wouldn't have made that investment if we didn't want to take it all the way," Mr Draper added.