NEWS that a County Durham clothing factory faces closure later this year has come as the latest in a long line of crushing blows to the region's troubled textile industry.

Losses in the clothing sector during the past five years have led to economic hardship for thousands of North-East families.

Sara Lee Courtaulds, which has factories in Peterlee and Tindale Crescent, Bishop Auckland, yesterday told 350 staff that their jobs could be gone by October.

Competition from overseas has been blamed for the decline in the clothing industry across the UK, and workers believe that has led to the end of the firm's deal with Marks and Spencer.

The company has warned staff that the factory in Bishop Auckland is likely to close, along with ten associated job losses at Peterlee.

It is an all too familiar story for the North-East, which in recent years has seen its once thriving textile industry dwindle away.

Earlier this year, waxed jacket makers J Barbour and Sons closed its plant in Crook, County Durham, where 87 people were employed.

Last year, nearly 400 jobs were lost when Dewhirst closed its Sunderland factory, along with 45 support jobs in Ashington, Northumberland, in favour of a move overseas. The firm had already axed 700 jobs when it closed its three operations in Peterlee in March, 2000.

Other losses that year included 300 at zip factory Coats Optilon, in Peterlee, and more than 100 at Coats Paint, in Darlington.

They were both operated by Coats Viyella, which closed its division in Langley Moor, near Durham, which employed 200 staff, in 1999.

More than 100 staff at Susie Radin, in Crook, were also made redundant.

An earlier blow to the industry came in 1991 when more than 450 jobs were lost when Ramar, in Crook, went into receivership.

Councillor Olive Brown, leader of Wear Valley District Council, which includes Bishop Auckland and Crook, said: "The area once had a proud manufacturing tradition of which textiles was a large part. But large-scale textile manufacturers have decided to close their operations in Wear Valley and, unfortunately, it is the same across the region. Something must be done to stop all of this work going elsewhere. The workforce here is brilliant and worth supporting."

Derek Cattell, GMB regional organiser, said closures were difficult to accept as workers had retrained and given their all to secure their jobs.