AT LEAST 270 new jobs are coming to Wirral after meat products producer Tulip said it was building a sausage-making plant in Bromborough.

However, the announcement has angered some former employees of the company who lost their jobs when it closed a sliced meat facility at the same site earlier this year. Tulip says the factory will open next year in a £12m investment that offers the potential for future expansion.

The Northwest Development Agency (NWDA) has provided a grant towards the cost of the plant although both it and the company refused to reveal the amount.

In April, Tulip announced the closure of its sliced meat facility with the loss of 300 jobs.

The firm said it would welcome applications from its former employees for the news jobs.

But one former worker, Chris Mann, told LDP Business he and other ex-colleagues considered the latest move an insult.

He said last night: “This news is an absolute disgrace. Tulip made hundreds of people go through hell by making them redundant earlier this year. Some of my former colleagues have split from their partners and have struggled to pay their mortgages and bills.

“We feel this is very sneaky. To make us all redundant and then rehire less then a year later is unacceptable and is an insult.

“They are messing with real people’s lives.”

The new investment will house what Tulip describes as a “state-of-the-art sausage production facility”.

It is believed there was competition for the plant from other European locations.

Peter Judge, the firm’s divisional managing director, said: “We are confident that we will be in a position to begin producing sausages at Bromborough in the first half of 2010.”

Wirral Council leader, Cllr Steve Foulkes said: “As a council we’ve worked hard, together with the (NWDA, to attract investment into Bromborough.”

Franny Joyc,e from the Unite union, added: “I have reminded Tulip that during the consultation over the closure of its meat slicing facility, they informed us that the closure was due to economic factors and not a reflection on the skills and loyalty of its workforce.”