Real Northumberland Murky: Giga-GaGa from Northumberland Conservatives

But how much public cash has been ADVANCED.

Since 2017 Northumberland Conservatives both Council and MP’s have been keen on promoting the building of a Giga plant to build car batteries on a huge site at Cambois in the river Blyth estuary next door to the giant power converter bringing hydro electricity from Norway and directly opposite Northumberland’s deep water port facility.

The first speculative ‘partnership’ was with the company Britishvolt the company was said to have a vision supported the UK government’s narrative of “leveling up”—supporting the development of struggling, often postindustrial, areas of the country, in the case of this site it was on the edge of a ‘Red Wall’ seat as are many of the ‘levelling up’ projects being funded nationally.

Partners in the development of this huge project with Britishvolt were Northumberland County Council, the Port of Blyth, the Local Enterprise Partnership, the North of Tyne Combined Authority and the Northumberland County Councils regeneration company ADVANCE Northumberland, who had staff working flat out on this project for over two years.

The company was said to have held numerous beanies to attract investors; Britishvolt, a startup hoping to transform UK car production by making batteries for electric vehicles, rented a seven-bedroom £2.8m mansion with a swimming pool and Jacuzzi-style bath for workers and to attract investors, portraying a lavish, well off scenario to all involved, including Northumberland County Council and its ADVANCE Northumberland arm.

Following a summer when people were wined and dined at Goodwood and everything looked dandy, the Company Britishvolt were rapidly getting themselves into a financial position of their own making and by late October, the company was in serious trouble, amid evidence of chaotic management.

It ran out of steam shortly afterwards as Top Tory investors stepped back and levelling down began, secrecy likened to the ‘Seal’ prevailed, with Advance Northumberland clearing out its Board of Councillor Directors from all parties involved in the Council.

Suddenly during the spring of 2023 the Council announced another developer to work with ADVANCE Northumberland to progress the project. Recharge Industries had been found.

They immediately set about changing the plant from a battery producer to a warehouse facility. Recharge's plan for the site was to initially develop battery storage technology, rather than batteries for electric vehicles. The BBC reported that government enthusiasm for the project was cool.

The latest news, that Recharge is being investigated by the Australian Tax Police appears to be the death knell of the project at Cambois with the Tories leaving the area in the doldrums jobs wise and the future of the site now in disarray.

But the public on social media now want to know how much this has cost the Council and ADVANCE Northumberland and who was involved with the beanies organised to promote the business.

Opposition Councillors were not removed from the board of ADVANCE without reason, Come Clean and let us, your constituents, know the truth and we as Tax and Council Tax payers need these questions answered?

1 How much money including officer time has been spent by both Northumberland County Council and Advance Northumberland on the Britishvolt and Recharge projects?

2 Publish copies of the council’s due diligence reports, now they are no longer commercially sensitive, so an assessment of how any decision/s from the local authority was/were made

3 Publish the following:
An assessment of how much in terms of business rates will be lost by the council on an annual basis as a result of the failure of battery manufacture to commence in 2023 as initially promised

Copies of all correspondence between the Council and Advance Northumberland (including from councillors) with British Volt and Recharge
Copies of all correspondence between the Council and Advance Northumberland (including from councillors) with the UK Government on the issue of Britishvolt, Recharge and the Cambois Site more generally
Copies of all correspondence between the Council and Advance Northumberland (including from councillors) with Northumberland’s four Members of Parliament in regard to the Cambois site
An explanation of the current legal position with the Cambois site and the council’s options for seeking ownership of this site
An assessment of any threat to a new Northumberland College development given the proposals to use this as a training centre for Britishvolt, Recharge and associated industries