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Issue - meetings

Meeting: 13/09/2019 - WMCA Board (Item 47)

47 UK Battery Industrialisation Centre

Presented By: Councillor Ian Brookfield

Decision:

(1)       The request for £18m of WMCA repayable grant, as part of an overall £126m project in progress to create an innovative open access facility and research and technology organisation to support national and regional Industrial Strategy focus on UK design, development and manufacture of battery technologies, was approved, subject to the charge noted in (4) below on UK Battery Industrialisation Centre assets.

 

(2)       It was noted that the repayable grant would be financed by the WMCA through treasury management and prudential borrowing as required, and would not form part of the WMCA Investment Programme.

 

(3)       It was noted that the repayable grant would not bear interest.

 

(4)       It was noted that grant repayment risk would be mitigated by placing an appropriate first charge on UK Battery Industrialisation Centre assets.

 

(5)       Authority was delegated to the WMCA Finance Director and Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Portfolio Lead for Economy & Innovation to finalise details of the security, repayments and other technical details of the repayable grant.

Minutes:

The board considered a report from Steve Weir, Head of Economic Development at Coventry City Council, outlining the key benefits and implications of the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre project relating to the request for £18m funding from the WMCA.

 

The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre programme was currently part-way through development and was due for completion in March 2020. The project had a total cost of £126m, of which £108m had been secured from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund through Innovate UK. It was proposed that the WMCA would contribute £18m to the project in the form of a repayable grant. Based on current business planning forecasts, it was expected that the grant would be repaid over a period of 12 years.

 

Councillor George Duggins congratulated all those who had been involved in winning the Faraday Battery Challenge to secure funding to deliver a facility for use by SME businesses to scale innovative battery technologies towards high volume production. He particularly wished to place on record his appreciation to the late Lord Bhattacharyya for his leadership of Warwick Manufacturing Group and its work as part of the winning consortium. Councillor Izzi Seccombe endorsed these comments, noting that the benefits of the centre would be felt not just in Coventry but across the whole region.

 

Resolved:

 

(1)       The request for £18m of WMCA repayable grant, as part of an overall £126m project in progress to create an innovative open access facility and research and technology organisation to support national and regional Industrial Strategy focus on UK design, development and manufacture of battery technologies, be approved, subject to the charge noted in resolution (4) below on UK Battery Industrialisation Centre assets.

 

(2)       It be noted that the repayable grant would be financed by the WMCA through treasury management and prudential borrowing as required, and would not form part of the WMCA Investment Programme.

 

(3)       It be noted that the repayable grant would not bear interest.

 

(4)       It be noted that grant repayment risk would be mitigated by placing an appropriate first charge on UK Battery Industrialisation Centre assets.

 

(5)       Authority be delegated to the WMCA Finance Director and Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Portfolio Lead for Economy & Innovation, to finalise details of the security, repayments and other technical details of the repayable grant.