Amazon is planning to close one of its UK fulfilment centres, offering workers the chance to transfer to another site.

The company announced a consultation on a proposal to close the site in Milton Keynes, which was the first Amazon centre to open in the UK, in 1998.

Amazon said the 590 employees affected will be offered a transfer to its new site in Northampton, or to other centres.

A spokesperson said: “We’re always evaluating our network to make sure it fits our business needs and to improve the experience for our employees and customers.

“Today we’ve announced a consultation on a proposal to close our fulfilment centre in Milton Keynes and to offer employees an opportunity to transfer to our brand-new site in Northampton – a larger, state-of-the-art building which will employ up to 2,000 people – or to other Amazon sites.

“Our top priority is to support our people during this process.”

The new £500m Northampton site is due to open in May and will initially have 1,400 staff.

A large Amazon sortation centre, which forms a separate part of its logistics business, is also based in Milton Keynes and is unaffected by the proposals.