Scarborough Should Press for Share of Offshore Windfarm Work

As the government announces major new offshore wind farm projects, local councillors are calling for Scarborough to get in on the action.

The government has announced major new Windfarm projects in the North Sea.

The latest contracts for windfarm construction were announced this week and included the Dogger Bank South project, located off the Yorkshire Coast.

The government says that overall the projects will provide seven thousand skilled jobs and attract 22 billion pounds of private investment.

Speaking before the announcement, Scarborough Councillor Janet Jefferson said she believes Scarborough needs to continue to press for some of the windfarm support work to be based in the town.

"We must push for this wind farm project, we've got to be a part of it.

It is the future and it will be really important for our young people and secure their future.

I had a meeting with the leader of the council and the chief executive to do with the wind farms, and to do with the plans for the West Pier. We are going to amend the plans of the West Pier so that we accommodate a hundred or 150 ton boat hoist.

We are also not reappraising building number one. It'll be going for offices and we are working and trying to achieve the wind farm of being part of it. This will bring in future employment for our young people. "

Hunmanby councillor - Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff - backs the call for the town to be focused on attracting any wind farm work to the area adding that any Investment in Scarborough should focus on developing the town's industries and not just it's tourism assets.

Speaking ahead of the government announcement Councillor Donohue-Moncrieff  said the area needs to focus on bringing more employers to the area and should capitalise on it's maritime heritage.

"Tourism is hugely important, but there are so many other industries out there. And opportunities out there.

And I think sometimes we forget. We, we keep treating the coast and the sea as though it, it is a problem. You know, we have a maritime, heritage in this country and we should be embracing the future.

There, there are industries within the, the maritime thing, not just offshore wind. There will be future industries. Let's get people trained up for those and less developed those along this whole east coast and particularly in Scarborough. "

Councillor Donohue-Moncrieff thinks there needs to be more ambition to bring to new industries to the Yorkshire Coast.

"Tourism is extremely important, especially if you own a business in tourism and you need that support. It's also a great opportunity, especially for young people during the summer or people from college come home. So I don't underestimate its importance to the area and we can't dismiss that.

But the overwhelming majority of people actually do not work in tourism. They work in other jobs. They work in other, in, in other industries.

At one point we had tourism, but we also brought people like McCain's into the area, we brought Raff attack into the area, brought Schneider Electric into the area, and we need to have that same ambition.

You can have tourism, but it shouldn't be the only tool in our toolkit we've got to start asking what other industries can we bring here?"

This week's announcement by the government saw 8.4GW of offshore wind secured in Europe’s biggest ever offshore wind auction - enough clean electricity to power the equivalent of over 12 million homes. The projects outlined include:

• Dogger Bank South off the coast of Yorkshire and Norfolk Vanguard off East Anglia – two of the largest offshore wind farms in the world, supporting thousands of jobs
• Berwick Bank in the North Sea - the first new Scottish project since 2022 and the largest planned offshore wind project in the world

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