"Coventry Airport gigafactory plans to be developed after council approval"

[rebbonk]

Yet again, our excremental council is risking OUR money on a poorly thought through gamble!

[dutchman]

Coventry £500k gigafactory outlay backed despite concerns

Councillors in Coventry have questioned plans to spend an extra £500,000 in a bid to bring an electric car battery factory to Coventry Airport.

It is hoped the proposed gigafactory, in Baginton, Warwickshire, could create up to 6,000 new jobs.

The plans were announced in 2021 and £1.75m has already been spent marketing the site, so far unsuccessfully.

The latest spending proposals were signed off by councillors at a meeting this week.

However, Conservative councillor Ryan Simpson asked if it was the right location, while others questioned the size of the investment.

In May, Tata Motors, parent company of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), confirmed it would build a gigafactory in Somerset, despite JLR being headquartered in Coventry and doing much of its manufacturing in the Midlands.

At the time, West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said there were technical aspects of the Coventry Airport site that did not meet Tata's requirements.

"Are we absolutely certain this is the right place to put it?" Mr Simpson asked a council meeting arranged to officially sign off the latest spending.

He questioned if the council needed to be more "flexible" or should be looking at a different kind of facility if JLR was not likely to be the main customer.

"I don't understand who's left to sell car batteries to," he said.

Green party councillor Stephen Gray said: "Half a million pounds to secure a factory being built does seem quite a large expenditure for something that's not certain to pay off."

[dutchman]

Introducing Greenpower Park

Plans to place Britain at the epicentre of the green industrial revolution have taken a significant leap forward with the launch of Greenpower Park.

With the West Midlands Gigafactory at its anchor tenant, the ambitious project, designed to foster world-leading collaborations between industry, major academic institutions and stakeholders to drive the UK's ambitions in leading the transition to a cleaner, more sustainable energy future, has unveiled plans to create an end-to-end electrification and clean energy ecosystem at its Greenpower Park campus in Coventry - the only site in the UK with approved plans for a large-scale battery production facility with capacity for up to 60GWh - enough to power 600,000 electric vehicles and benefiting significant incentives associated with investment zone status.

Combining endorsement from nine local universities and a local business sector rapidly establishing itself as a leader in electrification and clean energy, the Greenpower Park campus will support the development of new businesses and manufacturing facilities with a unique package of incentives, combining investment zone status, approved planning permission and an unprecedented regional incentives package to kick start development.

With a strategic focus on electrification technology development and manufacturing, the centre aims to attract an unprecedented inward investment of £2.5 billion - creating 6,000 highly skilled jobs and placing the UK at the forefront of critical clean energy technologies - and is already attracting keen interest, with a number of Asian battery manufacturers actively considering moving to the site.

Located at the heart of the UK's manufacturing powerbase, and with official approval already secured for a gigafactory with enough capacity to power 600,000 electric vehicles - the initiative will help establish the UK as a strategic centre for vital electrification and clean energy technologies.

Capitalising on a future workforce of over 210,000 local students enrolled in relevant degrees and vocational courses to meet the electrification sector's needs, the project's backers believe that Greenpower Park's launch will prove a pivotal moment in the UK's transition to an electrified economy, as well as a significant leap forward in battery technology development and sustainable manufacturing practices.