JOBS at a Cleckheaton discount supermarket are at risk after a regional trial store scheme with Sainsbury’s came to an end.

The Netto store in Northgate, which employs 20 people, is one of 16 shops expected to close next month after Sainsbury’s decided to end a joint venture with the budget supermarket chain.

The other trial sites are open across Yorkshire and the North West England including Lincoln, Sheffield, Leeds and Doncaster, with a total of 400 jobs now at risk.

It is understood that Sainsbury’s will attempt to redeploy affected staff where possible.

The joint venture with Netto’s Danish owner Dansk Supermarked Group (DSG) was created in June 2014 on a trial basis as Sainsbury’s looked to take on discount rivals Aldi and Lidl.

But following a strategic review Sainsbury’s boss Mike Coupe signalled “changing dynamics” that took into account trading data, customer feedback and expansion costs as reasons to wind the operation down.

He said: “Since we first envisaged the trial, almost three years ago, the grocery sector has evolved significantly and we launched our strategy 18 months ago to address these changing dynamics.

“To be successful over the long-term, Netto would need to grow at pace and scale, requiring significant investment and the rapid expansion of the store estate in a challenging property market. Consequently, we have made the difficult decision not to pursue the opportunity further.”

Mr Coupe also flagged a greater focus on Sainsbury’s core business and the integration of Argos, which the grocer is in the midst of acquiring.

The value of the £20 million joint venture will be written down to zero and Sainsbury’s is also expected to incur cash costs of around £10 million to wind the business down.

Per Bank, chief executive of Dansk Supermarked Group, said: “We, together with Sainsbury’s, set out to trial Netto in the UK to provide us with the basis to review the business at the end of the trial period.

“Whilst we are pleased with the performance of the stores to date, it has become clear to both partners that the business requires greater scale over a short period of time to achieve long-term success.

“Reaching scale has been challenging due to appropriate site availability and therefore we decided together to end the joint venture and focus on other opportunities within our respective businesses.”

Netto left the UK market in 2009 when it sold its 198 stores to fellow supermarket chain Asda.

The firm opened its first store as part of the trial partnership in November 2014.