A union leader said the loss of 250 jobs at an Oxfordshire dairy was bad news and "a disappointment".

Ron Webb, national secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union, said he hoped the closure of Dairy Crest's dairy in Langford Lane, Kidlington, and two others across the country would spell an end to the restructuring of the company following the takeover of Unigate last year. The firm is axing 600 jobs nationwide after announcing plans to develop a 39m "super dairy" at Severnside, Gloucestershire.

That development will create more than 320 new jobs, but cost twice that number at Kidlington which will close in September 2002 and also at Thornbury in south Gloucestershire, and at Marshfield, Cardiff.

Mr Webb said: "These job losses are bad news and a disappointment, but we do acknowledge the new investment and the creation of new jobs. This announcement should now conclude the company's restructuring."