NORTHALLERTON – so long regarded as vibrant and affluent – is facing an unprecedented threat to its future prosperity. In less than a month, the town discovered that it was to lose nearly 600 jobs with the closure of the prison and the town’s Rural Payments Agency offices.

Northallerton Prison employs 190 people, including 138 Prison Service staff and a further 52 workers, such as health visitors.

The 400 members of staff at the Rural Payments Agency are being offered jobs at York or Newcastle, although union leaders said many had initially opted to leave rather than travel.

The double blow came as North Yorkshire Police revealed plans to relocate both its nearby Newby Wiske headquarters and the town’s police station to nearby Thirsk.

The bad news is unlikely to end there with further job losses expected at County Hall, where North Yorkshire County Council needs to find savings of £158m by 2019. It is no exaggeration to say the compounded impact of these cuts could be devastating to Northallerton and surrounding villages.

There are examples across the length and breadth of Britain, not least in the mining communities of Yorkshire and the North- East, where towns have lost their main employers and have never recovered.

It is right that the threat to Northallerton has quickly been recognised and attempts to address the town’s fortunes are already underway.

David Kerfoot, deputy chairman of the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership, has formed a group of politicians, Government officials and employment specialists to co-ordinate a response with the focus on business growth and improving job prospects.

The task of replacing more than 600 well-paid public sector jobs is enormous but it is a task which must be attempted with vigour by all those who have skills and positions of power within the town.

For the sake of Northallerton’s future, doing nothing is not an option.