Windfarm industry will power business
BUSINESSES in Scarborough are being encouraged to take advantage of the opportunities offshore wind farming is set to create for the region.
Plans are in place for three major wind farms off the East Coast, two of which lie directly off Scarborough’s shores.
Speaking yesterday at a business breakfast, organised by Handelsbanken at Scarborough Rugby Club, Alex Richards, offshore wind project manager for Scarborough Council, told delegates how the town is perfectly placed to benefit from hundreds of jobs as a result of the project. He said: “These wind farms are an entirely new industry and form one of the biggest single engineering projects the UK has ever undertaken.
“There will be thousands of workers who will be living on site at any one time, it will be like a whole community off our shore.
“This community will need servicing and maintaining. They will literally need everything to be supplied from shore, and we are well placed to make sure we are the people supplying them.
“Our biggest threat is Europe. Wehave to make sure these contracts are going to UK business, and most importantly to businesses from the Scarborough, Filey and Whitby area.”
The proposals for the farms are currently in the process of securing planning permission from the Crown Estate.
This stage is expected to last into 2014, after which private sector funding will be sought from the energy companies.
It is expected construction will start in 2015.
The council is currently working in partnership with education providers, particularly with Graham-raincliffe Federation and George Pindar Community Sports College, to promote careers in engineering and manufacturing to ensure a supply of skilled workers to the industry.
Mr Richards said: “It is a very exciting time, we are talking about thousands of jobs for our economy between this and the potash mine proposals. “Businesses can get involved now. “They need to have a good understanding of the sector and where they fit within that sector, and where their services fit in to the industry.
“There are three stages; the main developers, the suppliers and the suppliers to the suppliers. This covers the actual construction as well as the maintenance and service. If people think they can fit in to that chain they need to approach the companies, or contact economic regeneration team at Scarborough Council.”