Cities vie to host Green Investment Bank

MORE than 20 cities and locations are bidding to host the Green Investment Bank, the Department of Business has said.

In the Midlands, Stoke-on-Trent, Derby and Nottingham will compete with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and London to be the home of the new £3bn institution.

Birmingham is not included in the list but earlier this year it was named as the base for the new Business Growth Fund.

The Government will make a decision by March, while a formal recruitment process for the GIB’s board and senior management team will begin next month.

Business secretary Vince Cable has published the criteria for deciding where the Bank will be based and what the Bank’s first priorities will be until 2016.

The criteria states the location should:  be able to recruit and retain the specialist staff needed to run the organisation; enable the GIB to work closely with other parties involved in deals as well as other investment bodies, project developers and green technology providers and be in a location that provides good value for money, to ensure that the GIB is cost effective.

Its priorities meanwhile will be: offshore wind power generation; commercial and industrial waste processing and recycling; energy from waste generation; non-domestic energy efficiency and support for the government’s Green Deal scheme.

Mr Cable said: “There is a great opportunity for British businesses to lead the transition to a green economy and stake a claim on a sector that has massive potential for growth. I’m pleased to see that more than 20 places recognise the impact the Green Investment Bank could make, and are expressing an interest in being its home.

“I want to set up the Bank as soon as possible, so it can start accelerating investments in these key sectors and help British companies take advantage of these opportunities. Setting out the priorities for the Bank and establishing UK Green Investments for April 2012 are a major step forward.”

The competing towns are:

Angus
Bournemouth
Brighton
Bristol
Cardiff
Chester
Derby
Edinburgh
Gloucester
Leeds
Liverpool
London
Manchester
Newcastle
Nottingham
Paisley
Peterborough
Sheffield
Stoke on Trent
Wales
Warrington
Yorkshire