Midlands

The UK Government has scrapped plans to electrify railway lines in the Midlands, the North and Wales. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said the government will only electrify lines “where it delivers a genuine benefit to passengers”. He added recent advances in train power technologies means journeys can be improved without the need for “disruptive electrification […]

A new scheme aims to develop new energy technologies and decarbonise the Midlands by 2050. The Midlands Innovation initiative is made up of six universities across the region – Aston, Birmingham, Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham and Warwick. The group’s Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) has secured £60 million of government funding and £120 million from industry to drive the transition to […]

ELN recently attended EY’s Building Future Britain Debate, which considered the infrastructure issues and opportunities currently faced by the UK, particularly in the Midlands. In a wide-ranging debate, a number of industry leaders explored how investing in roads, railways and other projects in the area around Birmingham could hold the key to boosting growth and rebalancing the UK economy. We spoke to the […]

The UK Government has announced an investment worth £60 million for an energy hub in the Midlands. The money aims to help establish a new Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) centre to support the growth of the region’s technology and economy. It will tackle some of the energy challenges the sector is facing by being more efficient and […]

The Midlands has created more than 5,200 jobs in the energy and environment sector in the last five years. A new study by Oxford Economics also found the region has created more jobs in this sector than other parts of the UK. Its report showed 43% were created in Coventry alone. Employment in other towns […]

A manufacturing firm in the Midlands has been awarded £5million worth of Government funding to build solar panels across the UK. This is in an effort to drive the nation’s economy and create new jobs in the area. Sunsolar was given the grant as part of the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, which is expected to […]

The drought in Britain’s South West region could last beyond Christmas, according to the Environment Agency, which is urgently warning businesses and people to use water wisely or risk “serious shortages”. Seventeen counties in South West England and the Midlands have moved into official drought status, after two dry winters have left rivers and ground […]

Two British water firms could share water in a rare swap of resources if the drought in the Midlands continues, it was announced today. The Midlands supplier Severn Trent Water is in “ongoing” talks with Anglian Water to send “large-scale” supplies to the East of England. As much as 30 million litres of raw water per day […]

Birmingham’s water supplies are at risk because of the effects of climate change, warned a leading UK water body yesterday. The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, CIWEM, says that in the past, concern focused on risk to the south east. Now it is pointing to research that show the capital of the Midlands […]

The UK’s second largest electricity distributor, Central Networks, which runs the regional grid in the Midlands, is being sold to an American company for £4bn. Central Networks is owned by energy giant E.ON, which expects to tie up the sale to PPL Corp by the end of next month. Once completed, it will make PPL, […]