Member Article

Doncaster clean energy investment to bring 5,500 jobs

More than 5,500 jobs are set to be created over the next ten years as Doncaster is expected to become one of the UK’s biggest renewable energy hubs. Green jobs currently account for more than 8,000 of the town’s payroll and, with new investment projects planned, its local authority claims the number could swell to more than 13,000 by 2023.

Doncaster currently accounts for over a third of all primary green jobs – such as waste and recycling and renewable energy – in South Yorkshire.

A further 6,600 people are employed in secondary green sectors - such as agriculture and forestry, construction, heating and energy equipment manufacture. With the addition of new ‘low carbon parks’, which use or harness clean energy, the number is expected to rise further.

Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones said these figures show the importance of the green agenda to the local economy. She said: “Low carbon is a fast growing and dynamic sector. We plan to build upon the infrastructure we already have to deliver low carbon-led growth, including the delivery of the DN7 initiative in Hatfield and Stainforth, which will create one of the largest low carbon and renewable technology business communities in the UK.”

Doncaster’s green potential includes solar farms; capitalising on its waste management and waste recycling expertises; the growth of energy crops on surrounding farmland – some of England’s most productive; biomass forestry; carbon capture and storage; carbon finance; alternative fuels and energy sources; alternative fuel vehicles; renewables consultancy; and components/manufacturing equipment for wind, wave, tidal, hydro, nuclear geothermal and solar power.

Ros Jones added: “We have many investment and regeneration plans for the next five years where we will think about everything from what materials are employed, using renewable energy and how developments will be powered, energy efficiency and their effect on the aesthetics of the environment.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by David Gatehouse .