Plans to develop a new Gigafactory in the West Midlands have been given the g-ahead.

The West Midlands Gigafactory joint venture has taken the next step in its journey to deliver a Gigafactory in the West Midlands with planning committees supporting the outline planning application for its site in Coventry and Warwickshire.

Warwick District Council and Coventry City Council have resolved to approve outline plans for a Gigafactory which will result in £2.5bn investment, creating up to 6,000 new highly skilled jobs directly alongside thousands more in the wider supply chain in Coventry, Warwickshire and the surrounding region.

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With many major automotive manufacturers based in the region, the West Midlands is the automotive skills capital of the UK and has unrivalled access to both current and future talent, as well as the existing skills needed to support the West Midlands Gigafactory.

Production ready from 2025, the 530,000sqm facility will manufacture high-tech lithium-ion batteries for the global automotive and energy storage industries. The Gigafactory will have capacity to deliver up to 60GWh by the end of the decade.

Mike Murray, Project Director commented: "This is an important milestone for the West Midlands Gigafactory. With outline planning permission supported, the site has everything in place that future investors, likely to be drawn from the global battery industry, need for a state-of-the-art Gigafactory. Thanks to this decision, we are now in strong position to progress our discussions with the global automotive and energy storage industries.

"Located at the heart of the UK's automotive industry, the Gigafactory is closer to almost every car manufacturing plant in the UK than any of the other proposed or Gigafactories under construction making it an ideal location for global battery manufacturers."