New bid to bring industrial giants BP and Shell to planned £30 million green energy centre in Peterborough

A new call is to be made for Government backing for a £30 million green energy research hub in Peterborough.

Ministers are to be urged to help the city become the home of a Global Innovation Centre for Energy Transition that could lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs.

It is hoped the Government will support the venture with the creation of ‘fiscal incentives’ – such as the establishment of an investment zone - to encourage investors and industrial giants such as BP, Shell and Rolls Royce to the city.

Plans to create the energy transition hub on the university campus of ARU Peterborough, in Bishop’s Road, were first announced a year ago.

Now Peterborough MP Paul Bristow has been given the go ahead to lead a debate in Westminster Hall tomorrow (May 14) on the potential merits of an innovation centre for energy transition in Peterborough.

He said: “This is all about continuing to make the case to Government for Peterborough to be the location for an innovation centre for energy transition.

"If we are to be successful, the Government will have to ensure there are fiscal incentives for companies to be part of this.

"This could take the form of an investment zone. There aren’t any investment zones in the region but there are in other parts of the country.”

The UK currently has eight investment zones which can deliver a range of benefits from 100 per cent Business Rates relief to zero rate National Insurance contributions and grants for research and Innovation.

Mr Bristow said: “This is a chance to set out in detail what this means and the opportunities it presents for Peterborough and the UK.

"I will also set out to show how it fits in with the Government’s objectives for Cambridge and the county and that Peterborough needs to be part of that and we can link the cities’ economies.”

It seems the idea of a green energy centre for Peterborough has cross-party backing.

Writing in the Peterborough Telegraph, Andrew Pakes, the Labour Party candidate for Peterborough, has revealed that he has ‘met with Labour’s top team in Westminster’ to ‘help secure the funding’ for the Energy Transition Centre.