STAFF from Andover's Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) are waiting to see if they will be hit by a massive restructuring that could take jobs away from the town.

As many as 950 job losses are expected to be shed nationwide from the DLO as bosses consider a future 'co-location' with the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA).

Only last October, the Andover DLO, based in Monxton Road, said it was the town's largest employer when it officially opened its North Site, the home of around 800 staff members.

But moving some elements of the Andover DLO to the Filton Abbey Wood DLO in Bristol would allow the organisation to run more efficiently, admits one of the heads of the reorganisation.

Commodore Ian Tibbitt, part of the team reviewing the reorganisation, said in November last year the final detail of the changes would become known this spring.

"Geographic separation may be a factor in this (how effectively the DLO operates) and may inform an Estates strategy in due course.

"I must again stress, however, that we're talking principles only at this stage - nothing is definite or set in concrete," he said.

The re-structuring of the Defence Logistics Organisation is desig-ned to increase its efficiency and give best value for money to the tax payer.

The year long reorganisation will affect the majority of the DLO's 28,000 staff members spread over more than 80 different sites.

To quash growing rumours that a 'co-location' of the DLO may move some Andover posts to Bristol, a DLO spokesman refused to confirm or deny that hundreds of jobs could be at risk.

"I'm not going to fuel these rumours at all - what we're looking at here is co-location. We're trying to determine how we should be doing business and where we should be doing business. There are no plans to merge the two appliances, but it would make sense for the two departments to be co-located," he said.

The threat of more job losses hanging over the town comes on the back of a Lloyds TSB workers' union warning in January that up to 1,500 jobs across the country could go to India.

July 2003 also saw one of Andover's major employers Ducal close its doors, with the loss of nearly 500 jobs.