More than 30 locations across the UK have put bids in to host the £3 billion Green Investment Bank (GIB) – a third more than the Government was anticipating, reports GreenWise.
In all 32 towns, cities and regions in England, Wales and Scotland have submitted bids to host the GIB, Business Secretary Vince Cable announced yesterday. At the beginning of December, no more than 20 had expressed an interest in headquartering the bank.
Alongside major cities such as London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Manchester, which had been expected to be on the list, the opportunity to host the world’s first green investment bank has also attracted bids from towns such as Bicester in Oxfordshire, Torbay in Devon, and Warrington in Cheshire. Cornwall in southwest England and Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland are among the regions to put their names in the hat.
However, places such as Angus in Scotland and Bournemouth in Dorset, which had at one stage expressed an interest, are no longer on the list.
"I am delighted that the Green Investment Bank has fired the imagination of so many public and private sector groups keen to host this world-first institution," said Cable. "They all have a role to play in helping the UK seize the benefits of a transition to a low carbon economy."
The Government sees the GIB as a catalyst for the UK’s transition to a green economy. The £3 billion it has set aside for it, will it says attract a further £15 billion from the private sector. However, the GIB will not have any borrowing powers until at least 2015.
Up until then it is anticipated it will invest up to 80 per cent of its £3 billion budget on priorities areas, such as the Green Deal, the non-domestic energy efficiency market, offshore wind, commercial and industrial waste processing and recycling and energy from waste generation, although this is subject to approval from the European Commission. Until such time the bank is unable to open for business. Instead a team within the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) will have powers to deliver funding to green infrastructure projects from April 2012.
When the bank does launch it is expected to employ between 50 and 70 staff over the first four years of its existence.
BIS said the criteria for deciding on where the GiB would be headquartered would be based on the location’s ability to demonstrate it could recruit and retain the specialist staff needed to run the organisation; could show it could closely with other parties involved in deals; and could ensure that the GIB is cost effective.
The 32 locations bidding to host the bank are Bicester, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Chester, Cornwall, Coventry and Warwickshire, Derby, Durham, Edinburgh, Gloucester, Hull, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Peterborough, Renfrewshire, Sheffield, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland, Tees Valley, Torbay, and Warrington.
A decision on the bank’s location is expected by this March.
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