Forgemaster's decision will cost '200 jobs'

Sheffield Forgemasters International hoped the jobs could be created by investing £140 million in a new nuclear engineering shop as part of South Yorkshire’s expanding civil nuclear sector, centred on Rotherham.

But the loan—agreed by the previous Labour government—was cancelled prior to last week’s budget, as part of a package of spending cuts designed to save £2 billion.

Forgemasters—on the borough’s Sheffield border and with around half its workforce from Rotherham—has expressed its disappointment over the decision, which has also been condemned by MPs and industry and business leaders.

The new Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, to be built on the Advanced Manufacturing Park at Waverley in Catcliffe, said that the loan would have been a major stimulus to the nuclear manufacturing supply chain across South Yorkshire and the UK.

But both NAMRC and Rotherham Borough Council believe ithe decision will have no impact on the landmark £25 million research centre.

The then-Business Secretary Lord Mandelson announced last December that the pioneering investment would be based alongside the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre on the Waverley site.

Steve Court, operations director at NAMRC, said: “We are very disappointed for our partners at Sheffield Forgemasters that the Government is not in a position to fund this loan, but we are aware of the reasons for their decision. “Forgemasters had put a lot of work into arranging the investment, and we hope that a private sector solution can still be found.

“But even with this setback, Forgemasters is a very solid company which will continue to expand, and we look forward to working with them on their civil nuclear projects.

"We remain confident that the Government is committed to supporting high-tech manufacturing industries, including the supply chain for new nuclear build in the UK.

“We still have full government support for the development of the Nuclear AMRC in South Yorkshire and Manchester.”