FOCUS ON WHITBY & SCARBOROUGH FEATURE SPONSOR
FROM
STRENGTH TO
STRENGTH
We met up with Alex Richards in the Town Hall in a recent visit to Scarborough. Alex is the Projects Manager for the Borough Council which covers a vast area from close to the Redcar and Cleveland border in the North down to just south of Filey, as well as inland incorporating a large swath of the Yorkshire National Park.
As the local authority their
responsibilities are twofold in relation to the renewables industry and maritime industries in general…
1 Economic development and progression of the area
2 Management of the Port, Harbour and Coastal authority which encompasses Filey, Scarborough and Whitby
We have known Alex and the Borough Council right from the beginning, some 7 years ago, highlighting their ambitions for the industry in our very first publication.
His role over those years has been to oversee the positioning of the region and specifically the ports to take advantage of the opportunities available within the offshore wind sector with a focus on the operations and maintenance following construction.
With sights set on serving the Hornsea and Dogger Bank projects they are strategically and geographically positioned as the nearest onshore ports.
HIDDEN ECONOMIC BENEFITS Not widely known outside the area is that Scarborough particularly and the Borough as a whole is that it has a very strong manufacturing and engineering sectors which can serve the wind industry in its wider sense.
They can therefore concentrate very hard on not only what their ports can do but also what the available supply chain can do for the offshore industry.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND Alex lived in Scotland in his early years, moved down to Scarborough with his parents when a teenager, joined the armed forces for three years and following various working experiences decided to attend University studying engineering and latterly achieving an MBA in Industrial Management.
HEADY DAYS
His position within the council started off as a Project Officer in the then called Yorkshire Board Renaissance Unit when it was very exciting with large budgets to achieve transformational infrastructure projects triggering investment from the private sector. This ensured the future success of the area, in particular Scarborough in the economic heydays of the mid 2000s.
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www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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