Member Article

£2.15m for North East safeguards 275 jobs

Over 275 jobs are to be created and safeguarded in the North East as a result of Regional Growth Fund money, the Deputy Prime Minister has announced.

Visiting firms in the region, Mr Clegg announced £1.4m of government money for Consett-based CAV Aerospace and £750,000 for Stanley’s Green Bottling.

Mr Clegg said: “CAV Aerospace and Green Bottling are highly respected British companies using Regional Growth Fund cash to continue to expand their production and maintain their position as leaders in their fields.

“The investment will create and safeguard 275 private sector jobs - just what the country needs to help recover from the heart attack our economy suffered.

“The Regional Growth Fund is just part of the north east’s growth success story. Through the Newcastle City Deal we are helping to transform major parts of the city centre to allow Newcastle and the wider city region to unlock growth opportunities.

“There are more people in work today than there were before the financial crisis - we are close to record levels. There are more people in work today than ever before. Since 2010 we have helped to create over 1.3 million jobs in the private sector, including 37,000 here in the North East.”

CAV Aerospace will use £8.3m of their own investment, coupled with the RGF sum to purchase new manufacturing equipment while Green Bottling will use £3.2m alongside their funding to develop a new bottling line and IT systems.

Owen McFarlane, chief executive of CAV Aerospace commented: “The RGF funds have enabled CAV to expand its new technology and product developments, helping to us to compete globally in the supply of safety critical components to the aerospace industry.

“The growth in CAV’s capabilities, capacity and IPR will help sustain and grow CAV’s position as a world leading tier one supplier to the global aerospace and defence market. The development of these leading edge technologies enabled by RGF is particularly important to helping CAV penetrate new market sectors for its operations in the north east of England.

“This capability will help provide long-term competitiveness in the markets, opening doors into both the European, far east and north American markets, whilst creating 78 jobs and retaining over 100 key skills in the region during the next 10 to 20 years.

Tony Cleary, managing director of Greencroft Bottling added: “The RGF funding has given the comfort and confidence to bring forward our major expansion plans by 2 to 3 years.

“The project has brought a wide variety of jobs across the spectrum to an area that really needs them. The jobs created effectively repay the money to the public purse through taxes and reduced benefit costs within a year.

“When it’s done well it works. In fact do it again, and we will do it again.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .