Alexandra Dock, Door Into Wind Era for Hull (UK)

The leader of Hull City Council said that plans for wind turbine manufacture at Alexandra Dock could usher in new era of prosperity for the region.

At a meeting this morning, Councillor Carl Minns delivered a rousing speech in which he said that the bid to bring offshore wind industry to Hull was an important landmark in the city’s history.

As revealed in the Mail today, Associated British Ports (ABP) has teamed up with Hull City Council, East Riding Council and the University Of Hull to launch Green Port Hull, a £100 million redevelopment of Alexandra Dock, east Hull.

ABP is understood to have engaged in talks with major turbine manufacturers such as Siemens about moving on to the site.

Business leaders, politicians and local authority representatives gathered at the World Trade Centre in Hull today to hear about the plans.

Mr Minns told the group: “I want to start with a quick history lesson.

“In 1773 the foreman of Hull City Council, then the Hull Corporation, decided to work with other civic partners and the local business community to set up the first privately owned dock company in the country.

“They did so because Hull needed it.

“Then 112 years later Hull City Council, then the Hull Corporation, worked with local businesses and other civic partners to develop Alexandra Dock because Hull’s prosperity needed it.

“125 years later, on December 3, 2010, Hull City Council together with civic partners and the local business community comes together again to develop the docks because Hull economic prosperity depends upon it.

“This isn’t pie in the sky.

“What is right for the port is right for the city of Hull.

“What drives this city is trade and we see here a really exciting chapter to renew the economic of Hull.

“Thousands of jobs depend upon us working together to usher in a new era in Hull’s history.”

He was joined by Matt Jukes, ABP port director of Hull and Goole and Professor Stephanie Haywood, director of the Centre for Adaptive Science & Sustainability at the University of Hull, who explained Hull’s strong position with regards to attracting wind turbine manufacture to the city.

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Source: December 06, 2010