Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson have welcomed ...

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson have welcomed Nissan’s intention to investmore than £200mn over the next five years in a new battery factory in Sunderland. The rechargeable lithiumion battery plant comes as the Prime Minister announced the regionwould become theUK’s first LowCarbon Economic Area specialising in ultra-low carbon vehicles. The Government is working with Nissan on supporting this investment by offering grants and loan guarantees, including support through the Automotive Assistance Programme. Low Carbon Economic Areas (LCEAs) were introduced in the Government’s Low Carbon Industrial Strategy - see page 6. They aim to draw together national, local and regional agencies to focus support on accelerating the growth of low carbon industries, skills base and supply chain. The North East LCEA, led by One North East, will focus on supporting the transformation of automotive industry, providingsupport for innovation and demonstration, skills training and clustering ofmanufacturing. Gordon Brown said: ‘Nissan’s investment in a new battery plant and its hope to start producing electric vehicles here in Sunderland is great news for the local economy, creating up to 350 direct jobs and creating and safeguarding hundreds more in the associated supply chain.’ Meanwhile, the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) welcomed the announcement by the Secretary of State for Transport, Lord Adonis, of the introduction of a £30mn fund to support the purchase of lowcarbon buses. In conjunction with the changes to the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) announced in the Budget, this package ofmeasureswill help transformthemarket for lowcarbon buses in theUK, significantly reduce emissions fromthebus fleet andhelptosecure UK jobs.