Hull City Council’s Planning Committee gave its consent to the proposed Green Port Hull facility following the submission of plans by Associated British Ports (ABP) and Siemens plc.
Negotiations to secure and sign a commercial agreement between the two companies continue, with a deal expected to be finalised later in the year, though the planning approval will further help seal Siemens’ commitment to build a new facility in Hull.
There are a number of conditions on the application that were not unexpected and the team is already poised to work through them to secure an unconditional approval as soon as possible. The plans must also now be approved by the Secretary of State which could take up to 28 days.
Joint applications were made for the demolition of existing buildings at Alexandra Dock and the development of a factory, office and amenity facilities and a helicopter landing site, as well as areas for the storage, handling, assembly, and testing of wind turbine components.
Matt Jukes , ABP Port Director Hull & Goole , said: “Today’s decision to approve the development of Green Port Hull takes us a very big step forward towards delivering this game changing project for the port, the city and our region. This announcement means that Hull continues to trail blaze a path at the very forefront of the green energy revolution in the UK.”
He added: “While this is just one hurdle of several we still have ahead of us, albeit a very significant one, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the teams within ABP, Siemens and Hull City Council that have worked so hard to get us to this stage and also to the wider public and business communities whose continual and vocal support is so crucially important to the project”.
Dan McGrail , project manager for Siemens , said: “We are of course delighted that the plans have been approved which is a major milestone in such an important project for Siemens in the UK. We continue to work with ABP to agree the commercial terms for the site and look forward to driving the remainder of the outstanding actions and continue to make good progress in the delivery timeline.”
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Offshore WIND staff, May 11, 2012; Image: greenporthull