CRISIS talks will take place next week as business, city and civic leaders come together in the wake of the announcement to close Ford in Southampton.

A meeting will be held on Thursday as leaders prepare to lobby central Government for emergency funds.

While 500 jobs are to be shed when the historic plant shuts in July, it is feared another 500 could be lost in the supply and service chain.

Already this year the city has been hit by the loss of more than 900 jobs at Skandia, British Gas and B&Q.

City council leader Richard Williams said: “The idea is to pull together a coalition of interested and involved parties as quickly as possible so we can have a coordinated response to this devastating news.”

It is expected the meeting, led by Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), an economic and jobs promotion body, will call on the Government to release funds from the Regional Growth Fund, a pot of money available to companies creating jobs.

LEP members will also press for the Ford factory site to be safeguarded for manufacturing in the future.

The following day Cllr Williams will attend a meeting with Southampton’s Federation of Small Businesses to gauge the impact of the closure.