Councillor asks for government investment to unlock potential for new green tech
A senior councillor has called on the government to provide greater investment into the region to unleash the full potential of green technology.
Councillor Philip White, deputy leader of Staffordshire County Council, says there is significant scope for increasing business opportunities along a major route in the county which would harness the potential of work that’s already being done.
He believes the A50/A500 corridor, also referred to as the Midlands Growth Corridor, holds the key to a prosperous future with green technology.
Now, Councillor White has presented a proposal to Transport Secretary Mark Harper, calling on the Government to look into how it can accelerate private investment in the area.
He said: “The A50/A500 is one of the most interesting growth corridors in the whole of the country in terms of its transport connectivity.
“If you look at a map, you can see it connects the east and west of the country brilliantly with the M1 and M6 at either end; East Midlands Airport and Manchester Airport; and an HS2 station being built at either end – Nottingham Parkway and Crewe.
“Along the corridor, the economic opportunity is enormous.
“It’s a brilliant coincidence for our part of the world that we have a global centre for decarbonising transport that’s being constructed along that corridor with businesses like JCB, Rolls-Royce, Alstom and Toyota.”
Councillor White said the blue chip firms were already developing new hydrogen engines which can be used in the planes, trains and cars and heavy plant machinery of the future.
He believes it will become a critical part of the UK’s net zero plans, and local authorities along the route want to make the most of their geographical advantage.
Discussions are said to have taken place between councils in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.
Councillor White said the Government now needs to help the local authorities bring out the potential opportunities with better transport infrastructure and investment in a new hydrogen gas network.
He said: “Anybody who uses the A50/A500 will know there are some real pinch points on there. That stops people and goods getting to where they need to be.
“There’s also the rail infrastructure. We’d like to see some investment in improving services on the Derby to Crewe line.
“The second element is hydrogen infrastructure. We’re going to be building a hydrogen grid over the coming decades.
“We’d like that to come to our part of the world nice and early so the businesses making things that use hydrogen can benefit from that immediately and we can trial at scale, using hydrogen fuelling – particularly for HGVs.
“We estimate there are around 18,000 new highly skilled jobs to be created along that corridor – an awful lot of them in Staffordshire – particularly working in advanced manufacturing, working with hydrogen, and also in advanced logistics.”
Councillor White said the private sector is investing in manufacturing facilities already – but that the government could boost that and help it be even more successful.
He said: “In a part of the world that the government is committed to levelling up, we think it’s crucial they look at an area like this as a priority.
“With a world class opportunity right here already happening, it’s something we can strap booster rockets to with a little bit of investment from government.”
It’s thought creating a Midlands Growth Corridor could contribute more than £6 billion to the local economy.
