Regional representatives from north-east England have called on the UK government to give local authorities a leading role in delivering on London’s offshore wind ambitions.
Delegates heard at today’s opening morning of the OWNE2024 conference in Sunderland how devolved bodies can play a more active part if Ministers have handed down sufficient powers and “let them do what they do best on their own terms”.
The message was made as the Tees Valley and North East Combined Authorities are in the thick of developing their own local growth plans to boost supply chain activity as the government prepares to publish a 10-year nationwide Industrial Strategy this spring.
Tees Valley Combined Authority head of net zero Chris Rowell said the area – already home to large parts of the Energi Coast offshore wind cluster – was seeking to flex powers and funding devolved from Whitehall in 2015 as he lifted the lid on how talks with departments in Whitehall are going.
He added: “This has to be about deploying our devolved powers including our Adult Skills Budget. We did this with SeaH Wind (which is set to open a monopile factory employing 750 people at Teesworks early next year) when we asked them how we could tailor what we offer on local training and education.”
North East Combined Authority net zero and low carbon growth principal manager Ross Lowrie said a £4.2bn devolution deal agreed with his region last year would also help to “unleash” its potential to support the deployment of an additional 16GW the Crown Estate said in its Future of Offshore Wind report in September could be leased off this part of England by 2030.
He said: “The role we are pencilling in for ourselves is to secure the physical infrastructure needed to get companies to build and locate here and to lead on skills and community engagement.
“Our job is also to keep articulating the ambition, so we don’t lose sight of the size of the prize.
“The UK can be a world leader but not unless we do it here and on our doorstep. We already have businesses based in the north-east and working all over the world because of our ports, suppliers, skills and innovation.”