A boost for Barrow

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) confirmed the sale of its site just north of Sellafield to a major energy consortium. The new owners plan to start construction in 2015, creating thousands of energy jobs in the West Cumbria area.

This is a significant boost for the Britain’s Energy Coast initiative – which aims to establish West Cumbria and Furness as a nationally significant generator of low carbon and renewable energy over the next 20 years.

Through a mix of nuclear, oil, gas, off-shore wind, tidal, wave, biomass, energy efficient solid state lighting and other innovative technologies, the Britain’s Energy Coast imitative across Furness, Copeland and Allerdale has potential to provide much of approximately 25 per cent of Britain’s energy needs. The key to achieving this ambitious goal is ensuring the area has the right infrastructure to support businesses and communities throughout what promises to be an unprecedented period of economic growth, during which 16,000 jobs could be created.

Bob Pointing, programme director of Barrow Regeneration, said: “The purchase of the land adjacent to Sellafield will have reverberations across the whole of Cumbria, and Barrow is particularly well placed to benefit from a new nuclear power station. Not only does a large proportion of the nuclear workforce reside in the Furness area but there are also strong existing and developing links between businesses in Furness and the nuclear industry bases across West Cumbria.

“I have always said that Furness and West Cumbria have shared the same economic challenges but also the same opportunities – energy. The days when the west coast of Cumbria was perceived as being isolated are coming to an end and we are quickly becoming a gateway for major investment opportunities and as a centre of global significance for energy expertise. By moving forward under the Britain’s Energy Coast we can be world beaters.”

In Barrow several major off shore windfarm developments have been delivered and more are in the pipeline. The town and surrounding area is also home to major enterprises involved in gas and oil. Barrow Regeneration is playing a key role in a number of shared initiatives with West Cumbria, in particular the push to secure an improved grid connection to accommodate the ever growing number of energy developments taking place. Meanwhile there are a number of key infrastructure projects taking place. These range from the revamp of Barrow town centre and major improvements to road links to The Waterfront Barrow-in-Furness – which includes 650 new homes, a leisure marina, hotel and commercial space along with a major new business park.

Waterfront Business Park is nearing completion and is being marketed by Furness Enterprise to companies from around the world under the Energy Coast banner. Furness Enterprise is also continuing to deliver successful programmes to both reskill and upskill local people to grasp the employment opportunities which arise from developments at the town’s shipyard and through the energy industry.