Amazon has unveiled plans to shut its Milton Keynes warehouse, impacting hundreds of staff.
The ecommerce giant said it had begun a consultation to close the fulfilment centre, which was its first to open in the UK in 1998.
Amazon said its 590 impacted employees would be transferred to other sites or a new £500m Northampton site, which is due to open in May.
The business confirmed that its sortation centre, which is also located in Milton Keynes and employs 1,100 workers, would be unaffected by the plans.
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An Amazon 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.”
In June, Amazon pledged to invest £40bn in the UK over the next three years as it geared up to open four new fulfilment centres, creating thousands of new jobs.
The delivery company said that it would build two major warehouses in the East Midlands, due to open in 2027.
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