Coventry Posts

message from West Midlands Police

Support young people during the holidays During lockdown it’s important to support young people and help look after their mental health. Especially during half term. Help and support is available for parents or guardians on the HealHub – who offer free mental health support for 14 to 25 year olds. We’re encouraging all parents and guardians to let people know we are there to help them. Thanks for keeping our 999 lines free More of you are using our online services for non-emergencies. This is making a huge difference in keeping 999 free for those who need it most, thank you. Many of the calls we receive can be resolved online. So for all non-emergencies please visit our website first. Here you can speak to us on live chat between 8am and midnight. If home is not the safest place to be, you can speak to us on live chat where specially trained officers can provide support. Remember, in an emergency always call 999. Government guidance We would like to thank you for sticking to the government guidelines and staying at home. We know it’s tough but we appreciate the huge effort the majority of you are taking. The single most important action we can all take is to stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives. More information is available on the government website. This guidance is the law and we where we need to we will continue to enforce it to keep everyone safe.

Message Sent By Anthony Wilkes (Police, Engagement & Consultation Officer, Partnerships Lloyd House)

Over the next financial year, Jaguar LandRover (JLR) is to axe 2,000 management positions. A official comment on the work losses has not been made by JLR but it has been widely reported today on all media outlets including the BBC.

The work losses would cover areas such as supervisors, programmers, technicians and administrators. It is assumed that factory workers are untouched by the layoffs.

JLR has locations in Castle Bromwich and Solihull as well as in Gaydon, Warwickshire, its innovation hub and offices, although it is not yet clear where the work cuts will be made.

JLR announced its intention earlier this week to become an all-electric car maker before the end of the decade.

The group, which has development sites in the West Midlands in Halewood, Merseyside, and Castle Bromwich and Solihull, today also announced that Solihull will be home to the future pure electric platform of the advanced Jaguar.

As part of its ‘Reimagine’ strategy, JLR announced its proposals, outlined by Chief Executive Thierry Bolloré, who confirmed that the Castle Bromwich plant will be “refurbished” in the future, while Halewood will receive fresh investment to build future electric models.

Coventry City Council will enter into an agreement with the Coventry Airport Ltd Joint Venture to develop plans for a Coventry Airport Gigafactory.

In the UK’s pursuit of a Gigafactory, the public-private collaboration constitutes a game-changing project and further confirms the appeal of the West Midlands to battery suppliers.

Proposals will be produced by the joint venture partners and an outline planning proposal for the Gigafactory in 2021 will be submitted. This will take place in combination with regional negotiations with suppliers of batteries and car manufactures to ensure the requisite long-term investment.

The strategy would dramatically increase the attractiveness of the West Midlands as an investment destination, while substantially decreasing the time necessary for the operation of the Giga Factory.

The West Midlands is now home to many car manufactures, including Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin Lagonda, BMW, LEVC and others, and is already the centre of the UK automotive industry.

Securing a Gigafactory in the West Midlands has been recognised as key to the car industry’s continued success, generating thousands of renewable jobs, raising up to £ 2 billion in funding, and helping Net Zero’s push.

The Government of the United Kingdom is aggressively seeking investment in a Gigafactory and has made up to £ 500 m of funding available, which will be bid for in due course by the West Midlands.

Coventry Airport has officially been endorsed as the chosen site for a Gigafactory by the West Midlands Combined Authority, which is headed by the West Midlands Mayor and includes the seven urban councils of the area. Up to 4.5m sq ft of commercial space could be accommodated at the airport site, allowing use of the wide areas of hard-standing and current construction.

Cllr George Duggins, Leader of Coventry City Council, said: “Coventry has emerged as a world leader in battery technology. The city is home to the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre, world-leading research institutions, and the UK’s largest car maker Jaguar Land Rover and it’s clear to me that Coventry is the right location.

“Coventry Airport sits at the heart of this powerful automotive research cluster and is the obvious location for a UK Gigafactory. It will immediately plug in to a mature automotive supply chain and skills eco-system. The green industrial revolution is coming, and I will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that Coventry is right at the heart of it. We have the site, the skills and the pedigree to make this work.

“Our Joint Venture partnership is unique in the UK and creates a strong platform to attract investment and deliver more than 4,000 new jobs, support our automotive sector, and secure our competitive advantage.”

Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “I have been utterly obsessed with securing a Gigafactory for the West Midlands due to the huge economic and job benefits it would bring, and so I am delighted we have announced our preferred site and taken a huge leap forward today.

“The point I have been ferociously lobbying to Government is that the West Midlands is the natural place for a UK Gigafactory as we are already home to the country’s biggest car manufacturer, Europe’s largest research centre, the UK’s only battery industrialisation centre, and a world-leading supply chain.

“By announcing the site now and driving forward with a planning application and a joint venture, we are showing how united and serious the region is about making this happen.

“The next step is to submit the case to Government to win the funding required, and discussions are already well underway with the UK’s leading car makers and battery suppliers across the globe to put together the strongest bid possible. I will not rest until the West Midlands has the Gigafactory it needs.”

Andrew Bell, CEO of Regional City Airports who own and manage Coventry Airport, said: “Coventry City Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority have together identified Coventry Airport as the preferred site for a Gigafactory. Coventry Airport Ltd has been working to deliver the best possible outcome for the region and are ready to back the West Midlands through a Joint Venture with Coventry City Council.

“We recognise what a significant opportunity this is and are backing the project with investment alongside our public sector partners. This is a ground-breaking initiative, and we are excited to be a part of it.”

Nick Abell, Chair of Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership said: “Coventry and Warwickshire has worked incredibly hard over recent years to ensure the region is an attractive destination for investment, particularly in automotive and battery manufacturing, allying our engineering heritage and capability with our cutting-edge research.

“Since securing the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre in 2017, our capability in battery technology has gone from strength to strength. The Joint Venture between Coventry City Council and Coventry Airport Ltd will continue to establish our region as the obvious location for a UK Gigafactory.”

Cllr Andrew Day, Leader of Warwick District Council, said: Andrew Day, Leader Warwick District Council, said: “As a key partner in the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Warwick District Council has been supportive of the efforts to ensure that the sub-region is an attractive destination for investment, particularly in automotive and battery manufacturing.  In relation to the site now being proposed, Coventry Airport is within the Warwick District Council area and as the Strategic Local Planning Authority, this Council will ensure that the planning application is considered rigorously, meticulously and diligently, as is every application submitted to us.

“We have already begun work with the Joint Venture partners to ensure that the application they ultimately submit recognises and mitigates the potential impacts of these proposals.”

The joint venture between Coventry City Council and Coventry Airport Ltd is expected to be accepted at a meeting on 23 February by the Cabinet of Coventry City Council. A planning application will be submitted in 2021 and the Gigafactory at Coventry Airport will be operational by 2025, due to fruitful negotiations with car manufactures and battery suppliers.

Councillors will discuss ideas for a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to create a combined arts and culture facility of national and international stature next week.

Via a specific alliance between Coventry City Council, Arts Council England’s Arts Council Library, Culture Coventry Trust and Coventry University, in conjunction with the Coventry City of Culture Trust, a national Collections Centre may be built.

Discussions between the groups have been underway for several months.

The exciting development could see the Council attempt to purchase and transform the former IKEA building in the city centre to create a multi-purpose collection and cultural facility, adding to Coventry’s coming year as UK City of Culture’s enduring physical, economic and cultural legacy.

If accepted, the multi-million-pound scheme will be home to some of the country’s finest works of art and give Coventry’s own cultural and heritage collections greater public access. It is hoped that this will entail collaborations with the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum by curated exhibits to display these significant national works.

Once the old IKEA building has been redeveloped, the flagship scheme will see Arts Council England move the Arts Council Collection from two existing collection stores to Coventry. The location would become a bustling modern art centre that would provide the rest of the world with loans for exhibits.

Culture Coventry Trust, which manages the iconic Herbert Art Gallery and Museum and the Coventry Transport Museum, will also take space to move some of the collections of the city not seen in the museums, improving public access to more of the collections of Coventry.

Transferring objects from part of the surviving Whitefriars Monastery of the 14th century would also allow additional opportunity to carry the Grade

Next week, councillors at the Cabinet and Full Council of Coventry City Council will vote on the proposals to purchase and transform the former IKEA building. Costs will tend to be recovered over the length of their leases by capital grants and the rentals earned by the investors engaged in the project.

Councilor David Welsh, Cabinet Member for Housing and Neighbourhoods of the Coventry City Council representing culture and the arts, said: “This exciting and amazing proposal is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create something that Coventry people can be rightly proud of as well as a national and international centre of excellence that will be a lasting legacy of our year as the City of Culture of the United Kingdom.”

Councilor Jim O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Work and Regeneration of the Coventry City Council, added: “I know that a lot of people were disappointed when IKEA decided to close the Coventry store back in March 2020.” As a council, we said we wanted to look at ways to reuse this historic building as something special and I hope this is what this plan would accomplish.

“It will bring Coventry jobs and skills and will be something we can all be proud of as a town, as it will attract regional, national and international interest.”

Across its two existing collection shops, the Arts Council Collection has hit capacity. The planned new Collections Centre includes a new modern, purpose-fit building for the Arts Council Collection that consolidates the two stores and the activities of the collection. This will improve collection care quality and allow the Arts Council Collection to create and introduce innovative ways of exploring the collection’s public involvement.

Darren Henley, Chief Executive of Arts Council England, said, “Arts Council England welcomes this declaration to progress to the next step in the construction of a new landmark collection centre in Coventry.

The new facilities will ensure that we not only firmly locate our current collection in the centre of this country, but also encourage collaborators to continue to help live artists, provide greater opportunities for students to study our specific collection, and, most importantly, ensure that these works reach more individuals in more locations across the country.

The collaboration within the new Centre will also be an apt way to mark the heritage of Coventry’s City of Culture. To continue to do this, we look forward to partnering with Coventry City Council and other stakeholders.

Deborah Smith, Arts Council Collection Curator, added: “This year, the Arts Council Collection is celebrating its 75th anniversary and our strategy is to explore new opportunities for public programming to present and promote the work in our collection.”

Coventry Trust Culture says they are optimistic about the possibilities that a joint Collections Centre will generate.

Chief Executive Paul Breed said: “The new collection centre proposed would create a more tailor-made and appropriate collection environment, with increased public access to parts of the collections of the city that are not currently on display.”

“We are delighted that the new Collection Centre will enable our collection to continue to grow and enhance the learning of British Modern and Contemporary Art through a programme of public engagement that moves through the store and an integrated and collaborative creative studio, expanding opportunities to work with partners in the Collection Centre and beyond.”

“Furthermore, the partnership with the national collection partner provides an opportunity to significantly improve and re-imagine the positioning of the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum by creating an enhanced programme of exhibitions that will allow it to reach a wider and more diverse audience.”

To date, Coventry University has been a key participant in the creation of the project and is keen to further pursue the benefits that the centre could provide to students and the city.

Professor John Latham CBE, Vice-Chancellor of Coventry University, said: “For Coventry, this is a huge moment, but hopefully it is just a starting point.”
“We will continue to work with all the partners involved to ensure that this opportunity is maximised and that the centre is developed into something that provides the city with tangible educational, cultural and economic benefits.”

All stakeholders have shared their contribution to the development of a permanent legacy from the City of Culture 2021 and will collaborate to build this special, iconic facility in the heart of Coventry city centre with the Coventry City of Culture Trust and broader city and regional partners.

“David Burbidge, Chairman of the Coventry City of Culture Trust, said: “Since our path to becoming the City of Culture of the United Kingdom started in 2015, we have understood that a sustainable legacy in Coventry is vital for long-term progress.

“Bringing national collections to Coventry with international significance will help cement the city as an extremely important part of the cultural profile of the United Kingdom.”

Its directors have acquired CK Quality, a quality and organisational service supplier within the automotive and non-automotive sectors.

Advisory group FRP has partnered with the Coventry-based corporation to discuss its options for financing and has successfully concluded a pre-pack arrangement.

The contract, which maintains all 38 workers, allows consumers quality of operation and a seamless transition to a new ownership structure.

John Lowe, partner at FRP, said: “CK Quality is an important company in the automotive supply chain of the region and the leadership team is best placed to take it forward, who know the company so well.” As they continue to provide their clients with vital product and organisational assistance, we wish the buyer and its management team all the best.

Coventry City were beaten by two first-half goals on Wednesday 17th February 2021.

On Wednesday night at St Andrew’s, the Sky Blues were beaten 2-0 by Championship league leaders Norwich City.

Teemu Pukki and Emiliano Buendia’s first-half goals doomed City to loss, despite creating some strong opportunities in the second period.

As their difficult run of fixtures continues, City will now turn their attention to Saturday’s clash against promotion hopefuls Brentford.

With Ben Wilson, Kyle McFadzean, Jordan Shipley and Tyler Walker all returning to the starting line-up, Mark Robins made four improvements to the side defeated last weekend by Cardiff City.

When Pukki ran through on target before attempting to square the ball to Todd Cantwell only for his pass to go behind the midfielder with the goal at his mercy, the visitors produced the first opening of the game.

City nearly took the lead halfway through the first half when, under pressure from a Norwich defender, Julien Dacosta’s cross from the right was headed over the bar by Callum O’Hare from close range.

Norwich took the lead on 29 minutes as Emiliano Buendia played Pukki through before rolling the ball comfortably into the bottom left corner.

As Dimitris Giannoulis tried his luck from the left-hand side of the penalty box, flashing an effort wide of the post, the Canaries looked to add to their lead.

The onslaught proceeded as the head of Grant Hanley, whose strong effort was superbly saved by Ben Wilson, reached a corner from the right.

After Wilson had taken the sting out of Pukki’s initial attempt, City then cleared the ball off their own goal line with Shipley leading the ball to safety.

When Pukki took the ball off McFadzean before selflessly squaring for Buendia to finish in an open net, Norwich doubled their advantage in first half injury-time.

With Leo Ostigard and Max Biamou replacing Michael Rose and Jamie Allen, Robins made a double move at the interval.

Just before the hour mark, City sparked into life when Dacosta played an outstanding ball into the direction of Callum O’Hare, who took a splendid touch before seeing Tim Krul smother his attempt.

As Josh Pask’s cross was cleared to the edge of the penalty area and brought down by Gus Hamer, who shot a venomous effort inches past the left-hand post, the Sky Blues came close again.

Minutes later, the midfielder went on a mazy dribble, dribbling past several players before seeing Krul’s low attempt.

When Shipley delivered an excellent cross from the left that reached Pask at the back post with Krul equal to the defender’s header, City continued to explore a way back into the game.

When Cantwell saw Max Aarons’ run at the back post only for Wilson to make a clever saving to deny the right-back from near range, Norwich attempted to finish the game off.

As he was added for the final 10 minutes, Sky Blues captain Liam Kelly made his return from injury as City could not find a way past Krul in the Norwich net.