Pressure grows for grant loss answers

Nov 13 2007 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

PRESSURE is mounting on the Government to explain why the region lost out on a £1bn renewable energy research grant.

The North-East had prepared what was thought to be the strongest bid to host the Government’s Energy Technology Institute (ETI).

The ETI hub would have placed the North-East at the forefront of the Government’s efforts to tackle global warming and potentially bring thousands of jobs with it. Newcastle University was leading the region’s push for climate change glory, with an impressive list of backers from renewable energy companies.

Instead the Government appointed selection panel chose a Midlands-based, Loughborough University-led bid.

Since then questions have been asked over how a university with links to the ETI selection panel came to secure the research funding. At a meeting of the North-East Assembly yesterday the outgoing scrutiny group promised to look into how the region lost out.

NEA chief Alex Watson said it was important the region had answers.

He said: “It might just be that we need them for our own good, so we know where we went wrong and what to do next time we bid for a large Government project.

“But it is known that we had an incredibly strong bid, that the North-East was thought by all to be far ahead.

“Somehow we lost out and no-one yet has said just what it was about the Midlands bid that allowed it to beat us. We will be writing to the Government and asking them to explain this decision.”

Mr Watson’s concerns are shared by regional minister Nick Brown, who had made securing the ETI hub his number one priority.

The Newcastle East and Wallsend MP has now promised to “go over the decision with a fine-tooth comb”.

He has also written to energy minister Malcolm Wicks to ask what the criteria were for choosing the location and how the North-East was scored. He has also asked what interest were declared when the final decision was made.

Mr Brown will use his parliamentary role to look into what happened when the 10-man selection panel was considering behind closed doors how to spend the £1bn pot.

And Hexham MP Peter Atkinson told The Journal he is hoping to use an upcoming adjournment debate to raise the questions in the House of Commons.

Read other articles on page two to see how the ETI story has developed