Â鶹ÊÓƵ

The Leader of Â鶹ÊÓƵ, Councillor Iain Malcolm, has co-signed a letter calling on the Chancellor to invest £1bn in the maritime sector to kick-start a world-leading maritime decarbonisation programme, creating tens of thousands of new green jobs as part of a green industrial revolution.

The letter - signed by 40 councils in coastal areas of the UK as well as all the UK's major maritime hubs - comes hot on the heels of the Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Party Conference speech in which he set out his blueprint for a 'green industrial revolution.'.

The letter urges a more ambitious £1bn investment to kick-start a programme to completely decarbonise the maritime sector. The investment would help develop zero-emission vessels and green infrastructure to install and service new windfarms announced by the Prime Minister.

The investment would turbo-charge the UK's maritime decarbonisation programme, creating over 74,000 'green collar jobs' in ex-industrial and coastal towns and cities across the UK which have been hardest hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

Given that the lifespan of many vessels is around twenty years, zero-emission vessels will need to be in the water by the end of this decade, and the solutions are not yet viable. The funding would be spent on research and development and green infrastructure.

The maritime sector is predicted to be worth $3trn globally by 2030. But without investment now the UK's share of the global market will shrink as other maritime nations - in Scandinavia and the Far East - continue to move ahead. The sector has burnt through vast sums of cash keeping Britain supplied with fuel, food and medicine as passenger volumes have shrunk through the COVID-19 crisis meaning Government support is critical.

Councillor Malcolm said: "The maritime industry plays a unique role across the entire country and the government needs to recognise that it has a crucial role to play in helping coastal areas like South Tyneside recover from the pandemic.

"With the right support from central government the maritime industry could kick-start the economy of many coastal towns, create high quality jobs and help the government achieve its target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050."