Clegg announces £2m boost for Yorkshire jobs

The Deputy Prime Minister was at Huddersfield’s David Brown Gear Systems yesterday along with Business Secretary Vince Cable to confirm the company is the first in the region to receive cash from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, which aims to create private sector jobs.

The grant, which will be matched by £2.8m from the company, will fund a wind turbine research and development innovation centre creating nearly 80 jobs as the Government backs “green jobs”.

“It’s fantastic that David Brown is using the Regional Growth Fund to scale its operations up and out into the new and growing ‘green’ market,” said Mr Clegg who signed legal documents allowing the deal to go ahead.

“Creating jobs and growth is our number one priority for Britain right now. But it’s not enough just to get us back to where we were. There can be no forgotten areas of Britain. We need to rebalance the economy by supporting growth in every region and across a range of industries. That’s what the Regional Growth Fund is all about.”

The company manufactures gear systems, including those for submarines and trains, but is looking to expand into the renewable energy market by making special gears for turbines.

With the Government desperate to show it is not standing by as the economy stutters and unemployment grows, Mr Cable also visited the University of Huddersfield for the official opening of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Advanced Metrology.

The centre was established earlier this year with public and private money and will allow companies to fit their existing machine tools with devices to ensure almost total accuracy during manufacture.