Midlands Engine in peril as JLR issues ultimatum to the Government

VEHICLE manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has submitted plans for the expansion of its Whitley base in what will be seen as a serious test of the Government’s commitment to support the Midlands Engine for Growth.

The plans focus on a huge expansion of the company’s research and development facilities at Whitley and propose a new campus development covering Jaguar Land Rover’s current site alongside part of a new 60-acre site south of Whitley.
 
The completed scheme could directly create more than 4,000 jobs, while the wider scheme could support over 7,200 jobs.

However, the scheme is not automatically guaranteed to succeed because it challenges legislation on permitted development in the green belt and part of the site lies within the Coventry and Warwickshire Gateway scheme that was rejected by the Government exactly a year ago.

COMMENT: Don’t let Green Belt guidelines stall the Engine for Growth

JLR urgently needs the additional capacity if it is to meet its expansion plans and has said in a planning statement that there are simply no other sites within the West Midlands which is capable of meeting its needs.

In a rare show of brinkmanship, the company has warned that unless the plan is backed then it will be forced to look elsewhere in the UK or more likely abroad, where land prices are cheaper.

Such a plan is not without precedent. The company announced at the end of last year that it had agreed to develop a new plant in Slovakia as it looks to expand its production capacity.

The planning statement speaks volumes for the company’s intent.

It states: “Their (JLR) growth, since acquisition by Tata Motors, has been a UK (and Coventry and Warwickshire) success story; the figures speak for themselves. In the last five years turnover has tripled and the workforce has doubled. They now employ over 37,000 people with over 34,000 based in the UK.

“With this level of rapid growth comes a requirement for more and better accommodation, the need to continually streamline the business and improve efficiency. The Jaguar Land Rover Whitley site has grown significantly in recent years with resultant pressures on space and parking.

“The company’s recent decision to build their own engines places further pressure on accommodation at their Whitley site where the engineers, researchers and support staff are based and its engine and gearbox development and testing facilities are located.”

The company has already acquired the remaining land at Whitley Business Park, but the accommodation requirements, particularly for the expansion of engine and gearbox testing facilities, which JLR needs to grow significantly, are such that a large amount of additional space is required to accommodate the R&D function and other specialist and support staff.
 
It continues: “The evidence presented through independent assessment work demonstrates that land supply in the sub-region is critically low and there are no alternative suitable sites which would meet JLR’s needs.

“The dispersal of powertrain facilities and research and development staff elsewhere in the wider region or UK, would not fit with JLR’s commercial requirements. It would cause serious inefficiencies and add considerably to production costs. If expansion at Whitley is not possible, put simply, JLR will need to look elsewhere, even abroad, where there are significant base cost advantages.”

The statement concludes that the plans should be approved “without delay”.

How the site could look