West Midlands Gigafactory
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Coventry Airport has been identified as the preferred site for a West Midlands Gigafactory and an outline planning application has now been approved by Warwick District Council and Coventry City Council.
A Gigafactory is a fundamental piece of national infrastructure needed to manufacture electric vehicle batteries at scale. If we are to protect and create automotive jobs in the West Midlands, we must deliver it.
Our proposals will create at least 6,000 jobs directly and tens of thousands more in the supply chain.
Pre-application consultation materials are available through this website. However, a planning application has now been approved and you can find out more here.
You can still submit feedback on the proposals which may be considered by the project team, but cannot be included in the final planning application.
Coventry Airport Ltd and Coventry City Council have formed a joint venture partnership, as the owners of Coventry Airport, to bring forward a planning application for a Gigafactory.
This is supported by the West Midlands Combined Authority, Coventry & Warwickshire LEP, Warwick District Council, and Warwickshire County Council.
The joint venture partners have put together an experienced professional team with decades of knowledge, and with international experience of delivering Gigafactories across the world.
The West Midlands is the beating heart of the UK automotive sector and home to a powerful automotive cluster with an advanced skills ecosystem. The region is already home to 28% of the UK’s automotive talent, with a third of UK-made cars coming from West Midlands’ production lines.
Coventry and Warwickshire has emerged as a centre of excellence in battery technology and has successfully facilitated the delivery of the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre. The region is home to Jaguar Land Rover – the UK’s largest car maker – whilst LEVC, BMW, Aston Martin Lagonda, TATA Motors and many others are based in the wider West Midlands.
Coventry Airport sits at the heart of this automotive cluster and is the obvious location for a West Midlands Gigafactory. Importantly, it is the size and scale needed and is well connected to the transport network.
The site is adjacent to the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre – an important national battery research institute – and close to Warwick Manufacturing Group at Warwick University, both of which are delivering cutting-edge research and industrial partnerships in battery technology.
A Gigafactory is a critical piece of national infrastructure and fundamental to the 4th Industrial Revolution. The facility will manufacture batteries for electric vehicles at scale and deliver up to 5.5m sq ft of space.
However, we understand this must be carefully managed to ensure local communities also feel the benefit, not just in jobs and economic growth but in local infrastructure as well.
Details of the proposals have been set out in a series of factsheets. These can be downloaded using the links below.
If you would like to be sent any of the factsheets in the post, or have any questions, please contact us using the Your Feedback page or consider attending a webinar session.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are not able to arrange a public exhibition or meeting. Instead, all the relevant information is included on this website.
As part of the consultation process, we also held webinar sessions to present the plans and answer questions from the community. These were recorded, and you can watch a presentation using the link below.
If you would like to receive any of the information included on this website in hard copy, please contact us directly using the information provided at the bottom of this page.
Please note the deadline for feedback has now passed as a planning application has been approved. However, if you would like to leave a comment using the form below these will still be reviewed by the project team, although they cannot be included in the application.
Feedback Form
Contact Us
If you have any questions or would like to contact the project team directly, please use the information provided below.
Phone: 07496 675 302
Email: gigafactoryconsultation@plmr.co.uk
Address: Gigafactory Consultation c/o PLMR, 29 Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BL