Funding Secured To Help Youngs Seafood Invest In Grimsby Sites
It's hoped it can help create and safeguard hundreds of jobs.
North East Lincolnshire Council has secured £1.3m in Government funding to help Youngs Seafood invest in their two Grimsby sites.
Members of the authority’s Cabinet today heard the council has successfully secured cash from a major government programme to help Youngs Seafood invest in their two sites in the area.
Earlier in the summer, Youngs announced that they had lost a major contract and would be looking at their operations across their various sites.
Following urgent talks which have also involved the area’s two MPs, the council has been working with central government to extend their Regional Growth Fund programme to be able to help Youngs.
This will give the company the opportunity to further develop their investment plans for the Grimsby sites and bid for this funding.
Up to £1.346m will be now made available to Youngs to help them secure their future in the town. It’s estimated that as a result of this, up to 200 jobs could be created and another 250 jobs safeguarded in Grimsby.
Councillor Ray Oxby, Leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, told us:
"The food and seafood industry is incredibly important to North East Lincolnshire in terms of jobs, companies and reputation and we’ve been working extremely hard behind the scenes to help support Youngs in their projects.
"Using these funds will have significant benefits for North East Lincolnshire. Not only does this mean that the funds will be kept locally, the immediate future of Young’s Seafood Limited will hopefully be secured. Youngs are a key part of the local fabric of our community, and we want to make sure that continues for many years to come.
"Locally, more than 5000 people are employed in the sector, and that’s why it’s one of our key focuses for investment support. We said when the announcement was made about Youngs losing a major contract that we would do all we could to provide assistance and give the seafood sector whatever support we’re able to as a local authority to secure jobs in the area.
"With the help of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, we’ve been true to our word and now we’ll be working with Youngs to ensure their future, and that of their workforce, remains secure in Grimsby."
Pete Ward, Chief Executive of Young’s Seafood Limited, said:
“This is a very welcome development. We would like to thank everyone who has been involved in tirelessly working to seek access to these funds including Rob Walsh the Chief Executive of North East Lincolnshire Council, Councillor Ray Oxby the Leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, Melanie Onn MP, Martin Vickers MP, their teams and the other stakeholders and officers who have played a part in this.”
“We now need to review the details and discuss this development with the appropriate stakeholders as part of the consultation process taking place following the news of the loss of a contract earlier this year. The formal consultation process we are engaged in at our Fraserburgh and Spey Valley sites in Scotland will take at least, as a minimum, 45 days which means that no final decisions, on the next moves that we make, can be taken until the end of August.”