The Business Secretary today toured Alexandra Dock, the proposed site of Siemens' new £80m wind turbine factory. The investment is expected to create 700 jobs.
Included in Siemens’ development plan is a commitment from the ports company ABP to build a £100m deepwater berth – capable of handling the new generation of large offshore wind turbine developments.
“The transition to a green economy presents significant growth opportunities both in the UK and abroad. The UK has the sixth largest low carbon economic goods and services market in the world,” said Vince Cable. “The offshore wind sector has the potential to create 70,000 jobs in the UK. We are committed to making sure that UK businesses get a head start and seize those opportunities now,” he added.
Vince Cable is to visit Tata Steel in Scunthorpe and meet members of the Tata Steel Economic Response Task Force and the chair John Clugston this afternoon. He set up the Taskforce in May after Tata Steel announced restructuring plans. Vince Cable said: “Tata Steel has had to make tough decisions in respect of the workforce in its Long Products business but we have welcomed its plans to invest up to £400 million to make the company more competitive.”
“We have already deployed the JobCentrePlus Rapid Response Service to provide support to those workers who will unfortunately lose their jobs and we welcome Tata Steel’s cooperation. We will continue to work with them on this,” he added.
George Archer
