COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Coventry is in line to gain thousands of jobs as Jaguar Land Rover prepares to announce the next phase of an estimated £500million investment plan around its Whitley headquarters.



The company is this week expected to unveil plans to occupy half of the 60-acre site on the opposite side of the A45, known as Gateway North, next to Coventry Airport. The other 30-acres is earmarked for top-level JLR suppliers.

The huge a four-phase project will culminated in the return of vehicle manufacturing to Coventry within the next five years.

Jaguar Land Rover has a stated aim of establishing its Whitley headquarters as the company’s global ‘brains’.

That ambition was underlined by £20m of investment in the site in March 2015, taking up an additional 62-acres of land.

The Whitley site is expected to become occupied entirely by research and development staff with space for hundreds of new jobs when phase two is delivered and back office staff are moved to the new location at Coventry Gateway North.

Millions will be invested in the Whitley site and the company will expand its ‘Powertrain’ engine development facilities at the site.

Hundreds of costly car ‘test cells’ are to be built at the site, something which underlines the company’s long-term commitment to the city.

A new six-lane £35m bridge will be constructed linking the company’s existing Whitley site with the Gateway North site on the opposite side of the A45.

Jaguar Land Rover will occupy half of the 60-acre Gateway North site, while the other 30 acres is earmarked to house the car firm’s suppliers.

Thousands of jobs will be brought to Coventry under the plans - mainly related to back office and administrative functions.

Hundreds of staff currently based in similar roles at Whitley will move to the Gateway North site as part of the plans.

Public consultation on the plans will take place and a formal planning application is set to be submitted by February. Consent from local councils could be given as early as March.

Because the site is on green belt, any plans must go to central government for approval and “very special circumstances” must be demonstrated.

But the land is lined up to be taken out of the green belt by Warwick District Council which, combined with JLR’s commitment to the site, is likely to add further strength to the application.

Jaguar Land Rover is understood to already be in talks about buying land in the area of the Henry VIII rugby pitches, north of the A45.

Early indications are that the company wants the land to operate as the new base for its materials and metals department.

It is thought the move would bring thousands of additional jobs to the city.

A planning application for the land is likely to follow phase two.

This land is also currently designated as green belt, but Coventry City Council recently revealed plans to remove its protection when it released its draft local plan.

As with the land in phase two, because it is currently green belt, any plans must go to central government for approval but will have the same favourable factors of JLR’s willingness to bring jobs to the area and its changed status in the draft local plan.

JLR aspires to build a vehicle manufacturing plant in the city within the next five years, creating thousands of jobs.

It is thought the company would aim to produce 250,000 vehicles at the site.

The next generation Land Rover Defender is the most likely candidate to be built at the new car factory, although the company could choose to focus on electric vehicle production.

It would be the first time the company has mass produced vehicles in the city since it shut down its Brown's Lane manufacturing plant in 2005.

Jaguar Land Rover expansion a 'game changer' for Coventry says council leader



Coventry City Council leader Ann Lucas has said Jaguar Land Rover’s latest multi-million pound investment in the city is a ‘game changer’.

Speaking after the Telegraph exclusively revealed the news, Coun Lucas said: “This is a game changer for the city. This will further cement Coventry’s role at the heart of automotive innovation, growth and success.

“Our two world-class universities, our can-do attitude and our ability to work with the private sector to deliver what successful manufacturers need if they are to stay and expand here have all played their part in convincing Jaguar Land Rover that Coventry is the right place to be at the heart of their expansion plans.

“Jaguar Land Rover – one of Britain’s greatest success stories – is putting its faith in this city to deliver its future and we will not let them down.

“They could have gone anywhere in the world, but they chose Coventry.

“I am so proud of the hard work that’s gone into making this deal happen from a range of people including senior officers at the Council, the LEP and Lord Bhattarcharya – who is such a champion of Coventry and who has done so much for this city already.”

Asked if the city was too reliant on JLR as a major employer in the city, she said: “These are research and development jobs, the brains of the company. It’s the last part to die when a company is struggling.

“But Jaguar Land Rover has just posted some of its best sales figures ever and it’s now a global company. It’s not entirely dependant on the British market as it was previously.

“These are jobs people will travel from across the world to take up, but crucially they are jobs our youngsters can aspire to - jobs that they will no longer have to leave Coventry to get.”

“These are jobs people will travel from across the world to take up,

flapdoodle wrote:Do you know what the salaries are for JLR? For materials engineers? Software Engineers? Electrical Engineers? I think you'll find they're much higher than the average salary.

Environment campaigners set to fight Jaguar Land Rover green belt plan



ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners have raised objections to Coventry’s proposals to expand Jaguar Land Rover’s operations into the green belt.

The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) says new jobs at JLR are welcome, but not at the expense of the green belt.

Responding to this week’s news, the Warwickshire branch of CPRE said today: “Let Jaguar Land Rover expand – but not into the green belt.”

A statement reads: “CPRE welcomes the expansion of Jaguar Land Rover’s activities in Coventry.

“However, we view with great concern the business park element of these proposals. This would be to the south of the A45, between it and Coventry Airport.

“All this land is in the Green Belt and a proposal for the Coventry and Warwickshire Gateway development of a business park at the same location was rejected by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government last year because there were insufficient grounds for overturning green belt policy.”

CPRE’s Mark Sullivan said: “Jaguar Land Rover is a valued contributor to Coventry’s economy, but this does not give them a licence to build wherever they want. It is about time major firms and the local authorities that work so closely with them show some responsibility by working within planning policies rather than seeking to flout them at every turn”.

Jaguar Land Rover submits planning application for new multi-million pound technology park

Jaguar Land Rover has submitted a joint outline planning application with Coventry City Council to create a technology park on a 60-acre site at Whitley which would create thousands of jobs.

Dubbed ‘Whitley South’, the scheme south of the A45 by Coventry Airport is at the heart of JLR’s ambitious expansion plans and represents a multi-million pound investment in the city.

The Coventry car maker would occupy a large proportion of the site as part of its aim of establishing Coventry as its global research and development base.

The plan is for the rest of the site to be occupied by third parties - including some of JLR’s suppliers - and other businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors.

In the outline application the company reveals plans to demolish existing structures and erect new office buildings, along with research and development facilities and light industrial premises.

There are also outline plans for the creation of hotel accommodation, car showrooms, retail operations and catering establishments.

Approval is expected by the summer unless the plans are called in by the Secretary of State due to the site currently being designated as green belt, though the area is earmarked to be taken out of the green belt in Warwick District Council’s local plan.

If approved, work could begin before the end of the year with the aim of being completed within 18 months.

Jaguar Land Rover's £500m expansion plans approved by Coventry City Council's planning committee

Coventry City Council’s planning committee gave permission to the elements of the expansion proposals within its boundary today.

That clears the way for an application from JLR to Warwick District Council’s planning office which will decide whether to give the go-ahead to the parts of the scheme in its jurisdiction.

But the scheme does face some opposition, including from the Campaign to Protect Rural England, due to some of the development taking place on green belt land.

That also means the secretary of state is likely to call in the application before a final decision is made.

If the plans go ahead, the existing Whitley site is expected to become occupied entirely by research and development staff with back office staff moved to the new location south of the A45 previously referred to as Coventry Gateway North.

Coventry City Council’s report into the plans concluded: “Overall it is considered that the proposed development would have significant economic and employment benefits for Coventry and the sub-region as a whole and would enable the expansion of a major manufacturing company in the international sector.”

It added: “It is not considered that there are other suitable and preferable sites that could accommodate the development.

“Whilst the proposals constitute inappropriate development in the green belt there are considered to be very special circumstances which are of sufficient weight to override the harm by way of inappropriateness and the other harm identified.”