Firm behind gigafactory insists plans are on track
THE company aiming to revive the Britishvolt plans to bring a huge gigafactory to Northumberland insist the project is still on track despite an MP raising concerns.
Recharge Industries, which acquired the failed start-up for £8.6m in March, has played down concerns that it has yet to complete the deal owing to negotiations about a buy-back clause Northumberland County Council has over the land in the event a battery plant is not built there.
Earlier this week, Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery, whose constituency includes the 95-hectare site in Cambois, asked Business and Trade Minister Nusrat Ghani to intervene to avoid a breakdown on the deal.
Mr Lavery told a debate on the UK car industry that Recharge was committed to the job-creating site but added: “However, there is a huge issue with Northumberland County Council relating to a buy-back proposal on the land of the proposed gigafactory.
“Will the Minister please intervene to facilitate discussions between all parties to ensure we are not let down again at the site in Cambois, and that Recharge Industries gets every support it needs from the Government to build that gigafactory and bring 9,000 jobs to the North East?”
In response, Ms Ghani said her department continued to “work closely” with the local authority in order to secure the best outcome for the site but that central Government was not the deciding party. She also promised to meet with Mr Lavery.
When asked about working with the council in a recent interview in the Australian Financial Review, David Collard, the entrepreneur behind Recharge Industries referred to the authority as having “a number of cooks in the kitchen”.
Recharge has now issued a statement saying it has developed a “great working relationship” with the council and added that the project is progressing.
A spokesperson said: “We’ve developed a great working relationship with the council in a short space of time and share a joint vision for the huge benefits a gigafactory could bring to Northumberland and the wider North East. The council has been good to its word to ‘bend over backwards’ in helping us to deliver a gigafactory project on the site and the thousands of jobs it will secure.
“Recharge Industries continues to work collaboratively with the NCC and Grant Thornton has been appointed by the Council to review the valuation of the buy back and provide recommendations to them.”
A county council spokesperson said: “We are continuing to work closely with representatives of Recharge on a range of financial and legal points associated with this significant transaction and investment into our county.
“The future prosperity of this site is vitally important to us as a council, as well as the local area, the wider county and the North East region.”