Eric Pickles marks start of preparation work for £450m Marine Energy Park

Senior figures from Able, North Lincolnshire Council and the Humber LEP see Mr Pickles begin work on the infrastructure programme.

PICTURE: Pickles (left) with Mr Stephenson during his visit to AMEP.

THE Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles visited the area on August 1 to mark the start of work in preparation for the development of the Able Marine Energy Park (AMEP).

The infrastructure programme is being supported through Mr Pickles’ department with a £15-million grant provided through the Enterprise Zone Foundations for Growth Capital Grant Fund following a successful bid from the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership.

Senior figures from developers Able, North Lincolnshire Council and the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership were at the AMEP site near Immingham to see Mr Pickles begin work on the infrastructure programme which is set to continue until March next year, creating around 350 full time equivalent construction jobs.

The £450-million AMEP project is set to create over 4,100 direct jobs and is seen as vital to the plans for growing the Humber as the UK’s Energy Estuary.

Peter Stephenson, Able Executive Chairman, said: “Mr Pickle’s visit and his Department’s awarding of the grant is, I believe, a huge vote of confidence in our ambitions to provide at AMEP the full range of facilities needed by the emerging renewable energy sectors.

“For a sector where proximity to market means everything to everyone, it makes sense to offer a big space in the right place, with substantial quays built to accommodate the deployment of large industrial components to the North Sea and beyond - all this, in the heart of the largest offshore wind market in the world.”