Hopes high for £80m nuclear deal

Jonathan Reed Political Editor

THE Government is close to agreeing an 80m funding package to enable a new generation of nuclear power stations to be manufactured in South Yorkshire.

A panel of experts is due to meet today to consider whether to approve the deal, allowing engineering firm Sheffield Forgemasters to install a new press to manufacture key components for the power plants which will be built over the next decade.

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Business Secretary Peter Mandelson has played a key role in negotiations over a 170m deal which would also see investment from nuclear reactor maker Westinghouse and the European Investment Bank.

Company chiefs have been waiting many months for a decision over the funding – to install a giant 15,000-tonne forging press – and approval would help confirm South Yorkshire’s emergence as a centre for low carbon technology.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited Forgemasters on a trip to Yorkshire last year and spoke encouragingly about the press, which would be used to make pressure vessels and castings for nuclear reactors.

The Government funding, likely to take the form of cheap loans, is due to be discussed today by experts on the Industrial Development Advisory Board, which advises business Ministers on certain funding applications from companies.

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Lord Mandelson’s personal involvement in the scheme is a sign of his determination to ensure the UK economy benefits from new industries in the wake of the recession.

Yesterday he renewed his backing for regional development agencies such as Yorkshire Forward – renewing hostilities with the Tories – as he announced funding for a series of regeneration projects around the country.

Yorkshire Forward is giving 6m to allow work to go ahead on the Huddersfield Waterfront Quarter to provide a new site for Kirklees College and develop land for offices.

The 175m Waterfront development is seen as crucial for creating jobs in the town and reviving the area with homes, hotels and leisure facilities.

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Yorkshire Forward chairman Terry Hodgkinson said: “Huddersfield Waterfront Quarter is a great example of how public sector partners can work together to kick start significant regeneration projects, especially in the current economic climate. This major scheme will secure a key town centre site for further development and ensure over 1,200 jobs are created or safeguarded in the area, contributing to its long term prosperity.”

Regional Minister Rosie Winterton said: “The creation of the Quarter will be a significant economic boost to the town centre and the surrounding area.”

Lord Mandelson backed the project at a Press conference in London where he renewed his attack on Tory plans to scale back the development agencies which spend hundreds of millions of pounds each year. He claimed the recession would have hit regions outside London much harder without their presence, although he admitted they would face budget cuts.

But Shadow Business Secretary Ken Clarke accused him of carrying out a “shameless election gimmick” by bringing chairmen of the agencies to London for yesterday’s event.

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“The RDAs are the remains of John Prescott’s failed policy of regional government, and in the current circumstances it is right to look carefully at how we are going to deliver the same or better services for less,” he said.