Rhonda Ashton, with her son Craig, fears the impact the closure of Pittsworth Food Processors will have on Ashton's Butchery and the town of Pittsworth.

The Chronicle

PITTSWORTH residents yesterday said the closure of the town’s abattoir would be a massive blow.

Leitch Pastoral Group will make an announcement on Friday regarding the future of abattoirs in Pittsworth and Killarney after 230 staff were stood down for the rest of the week yesterday.

Pittsworth identity Penny McKinlay said the writing had been on the wall since the group purchased the abattoir from a local family almost three years ago.

She said the closure would hurt the region with many of the 110 workers at the Pittsworth plant based in Toowoomba and surrounding areas.

“For anybody who loses their job, it’s going to be diabolical, especially in times like these,” she said.

“And it’s not good for the town or region in any respect.”

Ashton’s Butchery processes most of its meat at Pittsworth Food Processors and would be forced to use an abattoir at Warwick if the local plant was closed.

“It’s going to affect us a lot,” butchery owner Rhonda Ashton said.

“We’ll be looking at the extra costs of cartage and also of having one our staff out of the shop travelling to Warwick every day.”

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230 abattoir workers stood down