Unite seeks government intervention to save England's wind turbine plants

Unite the union will ask government to act to save England's only wind turbine manufacturing plants after Vestas Blades announced the factories at the Isle of Wight and Southampton sites will close in July, with the loss of 625 jobs and the transfer of production to China and the US.

At a meeting today with Ed Miliband, secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Unite will ask the government to follow the example of the Scottish Parliament which recently invested £10 million. This money enabled a £27 million investment from a new Danish company when Vestas shed its Scottish site.

Jack Dromey, Unite deputy general secretary, said: "These closures would be a disaster from the point of view of green jobs, and the long term sustainability of the UK 's energy supply.

"The government talks about how green jobs will help the country climb out of the recession, so we hope they will take action to save England’s only wind turbine manufacturing capacity to survive."

The call for action is supported by environmental group Friends of the Earth who believe that the government must take action now to keep these wind turbine manufacturing jobs in Britain.

Nick Rau, Friends of the Earth’s energy campaigner, said: "Allowing this country’s only wind turbine manufacturer to close these manufacturing plants would be an absolute tragedy – the UK has the best wind resources in the whole of Europe and we should be creating green energy jobs, not shedding them.

"The government must now take action to keep wind turbine manufacturing jobs in Britain, tackle barriers to renewable energy, and make this country a world leader in developing a clean and prosperous low-carbon economy".

The UK has the best ‘wind resources’ in Europe but currently generates just five per cent of power from this source, less than than most other large economies.

At the meeting with the Minister, Unite will ask the government to:

• Address blockages in the planning system, which has been called ‘the most difficult in the world’ by Vestas CEO, Ditlev Engel;
• Take steps to ensure that the banks free up investment for sustainable investment to create good, green jobs;
• Ensure there is sufficient investment in grid expansion;
• Invest more in skills for renewable energy;
• Consider following the Spanish example of only allowing planning permission for sites, if those turbines are at least in part manufactured in that region. (Using EU social and environmental clauses that make this an entirely legitimate practice);
• Introduce feed in tariffs for large scale wind, which have driven rapid expansion of wind energy in most other large economies and at lower cost to the energy consumer than our current system.

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