Protests over plans to close wind turbine factory

Protesters have been fighting the planned closure of a turbine factory by occupying the building and demonstrating outside of the Department for Energy and Climate Change.


The closure, first reported on Edie in April, has been roundly condemned and comes just a week after government said it planned to use green jobs to drive the economy out of recession.

The factory, owned by Danish firm Vestas, is on the Isle of Wight and is earmarked for closure at the end of this month with the loss of nearly 600 jobs and is currently occupied by angry workers.

The Campaign against Climate Change, protested in central London yesterday (22 July) about the closure.

National co-ordinator, Phil Thornhill, said: “The workers at Vestas are not standing by whilst the government fails to safeguard both their livelihoods and the health of the planet.

“In fighting for their jobs they are also showing that ordinary people will not let the government get away with ‘green jobs’ rhetoric without backing it up with real action.

“If the government can spend billions bailing out the banks and £2. 3bn in loan guarantees to support the UK car industry – they can definitely step in to save the infrastructure we are really going to need prevent a climate catastrophe.”

Vesta took the decision to close the plant because of what it described as ‘substantial excess capacity in northern Europe’ and to protect the long term future of the overall group.

A spokesman for Vestas added: “Investments in the development centre at the Isle of Wight will continue.”

Luke Walsh

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