UNEMPLOYMENT figures show the number of jobless people in Devizes has risen, a factor partly attributed to jobs lost at Dyson.

The most recent Government figures show that while the number of unemployed people went down year-on-year from August 2001 to August 2002 in Bath, Bristol and Salisbury, unemployment levels in Devizes rose 1.4 per cent, from 747 to 796.

Deputy manager of Devizes Job Centre, Laura Peapell, said: "The closure of Dyson has had quite an impact on the area, which is what I would imagine is reflected in these figures."

Nearly 600 people were made redundant up to September 2001 after Dyson closed its British vacuum cleaner production facility in Malmesbury.

However, Devizes still has one of the South West's lowest unemployment levels.