The plant is winding down its operations

Welsh Economic Development Minister Andrew Davies told a meeting in Llanidloes that efforts were still going on to find a firm to take over the KTH factory there.

He added that long-term plans were also under discussion to try to bring other companies to the town which provides most of KTH's 250-strong workforce.

After Wednesday's meeting in Llanidloes town hall, the chair of the task force Margot Jones said she was 'hopeful' about the future.

"We needed to talk to the minister, and he assured us that decline was not an option for the town," she said.

Andrew Davies has promised the town will not be allowed to decline

"Most of us went away with the feeling that there was still some hope."

The meeting was attended by Liberal Democrat AM Mick Bates, Dr Geraint Davies from the Welsh Development Agency and representatives from the workforce.

KTH is in the process of winding down its operation after the closure announcement in February, following the loss of a major order to Eastern Europe.

Union delegates at Wednesday's meeting pressed the assembly minister to go back to Ford, who had earlier been approached by politicians to take over the site.

However, the WDA's Dr Geraint Davies admitted it was becoming increasingly difficult to attract companies interested in taking over the KTH factory.

Two-thirds of the KTH workforce are from the town

He said it now looked almost certain that the development of the site following closure was the only way of retaining at least some jobs for the town.

The task force is also pressing the authorities for help in other areas in providing alternative jobs in the area.

"We also asked the minister whether it would be possible to look again at the town getting assisted status so we could qualify for European Objective One status," said Mrs Jones.

Another option was to look at following a regeneration model set up by the Welsh Development Agency in Ceredigion, to see if the town could follow that.

Partnership

Plans to attract jobs to Llanidloes by knocking down the community centre, and replacing it with a state-of-the-art centre with training and conference facilities are also advanced.

The task force is seeking grant aid of more than �1.5m to finance the so-called Idloes project.