Coventry gigafactory: JLR owner's plans disappointing - mayor

The owner of Jaguar Land Rover's decision not to build a car battery factory in Coventry is "disappointing", West Midlands Mayor Andy Street says.

Tata Group is reported to be considering either Somerset or Spain for its gigafactory.

It had been hoped the car maker would choose a site at Coventry Airport which has been identified for a gigafactory.

Mr Street said there were "technical aspects" of that site which had not met the firm's criteria.

However, the mayor rejected the suggestion that the decision was a "snub" to Coventry where JLR has historical links.

"Just because they [potentially] build the battery factory in Somerset does not mean they are snubbing their home city," he said.

"It's disappointing news, but they will still be employing lots of people in research and development and, of course, there's all the questions of the supply chain that will support this and their support for the manufacturing plant so it's not all bad news."

Outline planning permission was given last year for a gigafactory at Coventry Airport with the hope of creating 6,000 jobs on the site.

The mayor insisted the JLR owner's decision was "not the end of the road" for the project.

"There are already negotiations with other potential investors and we are very, very confident that our offer is a very good one for them," he said.

More and more car manufacturers are swapping diesel and petrol models for electric vehicles, with some 45,000 jobs tied to the wider automotive industry in the Midlands.

It has been reported by the Financial Times that Tata is asking for £500m in government support to build a battery factory in the UK rather than Spain.

Andy Palmer, chairman of the battery maker InoBat Auto, told the BBC the amount of money "doesn't seem unreasonable" as energy costs are higher in the UK than Spain.

He added that the UK had to compete with the US and European Union in terms of incentive packages.

Mr Palmer, the former head of Warwickshire car maker Aston Martin, said: "I think it's really important now that the UK government decides if it wants a car industry. If it does then it needs to provision probably a lot more money than it has so far."

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