REDUNDANCIES at GlaxoSmithKline are set to begin, with up to 75 members of staff to lose their job by the end of this year.

In November the drugs giant announced it will close its manufacturing site in Dartford by 2013, meaning the loss of around 620 jobs over the next three and a half years.

Today (May 26) a spokeswoman said between 50 and 75 members of staff will be made redundant this year, and in July management will determine a schedule for phasing out workers.

She said: “Managers are working with their departments to look at how many people they will need going forward, and these plans will be made in July and that’s when there will be a better idea of who will go.”

The spokeswoman added: “We are installing an employee support centre with advisors so that as and when people are given their notice of redundancy they can go across and get help planning for the future.”

GSK blames the closure on patents expiring for Lamictal for epilepsy/bipolar disorder and Valtrex for herpes, which make up around 60 per cent of production at the site.

Trade union Unite began consulting with GSK management after the announcement of the closure, to see whether the redundancies could be avoided.

However, in January it emerged this would not be possible, and union officials and GSK management began the ongoing negotiating of redundancy terms.

GSK was originally established in Dartford in 1889, beginning life under the name Burroughs Wellcome and Co.

People from Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley are employed by GSK, and news of its planned closure was met with sadness from across north Kent.

Matt Bendixen, aged 35, of Stanhope Drive, Swanscombe, has worked as a process operator at the plant for more than 13 years, and said he was “gutted” by the news.

Dartford MP Dr Howard Stoate said: “It is a great shame for the town, the factory has been here for 120 years and it forms part of the town’s heritage.”