Written Question
Riding Sunbeams
6 Sep 2021
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the (a) readiness, (b) level of risk and (c) potential effect on employment of the Riding Sunbeams Apollo Ltd project granted £2.5 million in funding under the Getting Building Fund in November 2020.
Answered by Luke Hall
These were assessed by the Local Enterprise Partnership's independent technical evaluator, who judged that (a) there were good grounds for believing the project could start on time and be completed by March 2022, (b) there was a degree of risk attaching to the Network Rail's commitment to purchase power from the project for an initial 2-4 year period only, with no guarantees beyond this test period, meaning that full long term benefits may not accrue if the contract to purchase power were not expended and (c) the projected figure of 40 jobs was robust and moreover 'the investment is in line with the UK government's aim to stimulate post Covid-19 economic recovery through investment in infrastructure.'
