Blackspots may be given green jobs makeover

Scarborough Council officers are attending a national event at the end of this month to raise the borough's profile in the industry.

A promotion will also be launched at Whitby Pavilion to ensure that the opportunities arising from the marine based wind farm industry to help regenerate the borough are capitalised upon.

Earlier this year the Government announced plans for a massive expansion of offshore wind turbines around the British coast, with around 2,500 to be constructed off the Yorkshire coast at vast wind farms near Hornsea and Dogger Bank.

The Yorkshire Post is campaigning for the huge new construction and service industry supplying the wind farms to be located in this region, at port locations along the Humber.

The decision to build the multi-billion pound development at Dogger Bank nearly 80 miles off the Yorkshire coast is aimed at generating up to 10 per cent of the nation's electricity.

The massive wind farm, which is expected to include about 2,600 giant turbines each up to 400ft tall, will cover more than 3,300 sq miles – equivalent to the size of North Yorkshire, England's largest county.

Ambitious plans are now being drawn up by Scarborough Borough Council to bring thousands of jobs to its coastal towns by playing a significant role in supporting the industry.

A separate wind farm scheme at Hornsea is also due to provide a host of opportunities for ports further down the coast, including Hull.

The Dogger Bank and Hornsea schemes are part of a 100bn strategy announced in January to harvest green energy and create up to 70,000 jobs.

Whitby Harbour, as a port, is well placed to provide services to developers, according to head of technical services John Riby.

He said: "The industries require a supply chain that is capable of delivering the required infrastructure support. Consequently officers have engaged in discussions with developers."

The developments will require a range of technical, geological, scientific and nautical skills. "In addition all investors will require a supply chain capable of delivering operation and maintenance support for the industry," Mr Riby continued.

"Whitby, in particular, is ideally placed to provide a significant element of the requirements of the industry for support vessel operations, ports and logistics, being the closest English port to the proposed development sites."

Private sector marine logistics experts were recently co-opted as members to the new Whitby Harbour Board with the wind-farm industry in mind.

The 1.5m Scarborough Job Match scheme, which provides a brokerage service to match local people with employment opportunities, has also been targetting the sort of skills needed for the developments.

A study has been commissioned by the ouncil from Prof Jack Hardisty, of Hull University, as a guiding light of future decision making.

An event has been arranged at Whitby Pavilion on July 23 to gear stake holders up for the opportunities involving representatives from the developers, Yorkshire Forward, Prof Hardisty and Scarborough Tory MP Robert Goodwill.