Robyn and Stephen discuss the future of British Steel in Scunthorpe, plans for a new Center Parcs, and a new office for a financial advisory firm.
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00:00The future of British Steel in Scunthorpe plans for new centre parks and a new office for a financial advisory firm featuring today's business briefing.
00:12Good morning, Robin. Good morning, Stephen.
00:14Well, we've got some slightly concerning news to start with with British Steel's announcement that it is to begin consultation with its staff in Scunthorpe
00:22over plans to close its two blast furnaces,
00:25its steelmaking operations and reduced capacity.
00:28And that follows a failure to reach an agreement with the UK government over a funding package that the company was hoping to secure.
00:34Its owner, Jing Yi, said it invested more than £1.2 billion in the business since it took over in 2020
00:41in order to maintain its operations amid production instability and financial losses of about £700,000 per day.
00:49However, since then, it has now said that the blast furnaces and steelmaking operations are no longer financially sustainable
00:55due to the challenging market conditions, the imposition in tariffs and environmental costs.
01:01It had sought support from the UK government for investment in two new electric arc furnaces,
01:06but despite several months of talks, no agreement has so far been able to be reached.
01:11It said that the proposed closure would impact between
01:152,000 and 2,700 jobs, which obviously is very, very hard news for the area.
01:21But it has said it will continue to work with the UK government to help secure the future of the business.
01:26We've got the breaking news on that from yesterday.
01:30We've also got a full explainer of the British Steel saga.
01:33Obviously, it's been a fairly major development for the Humber region over the last few years.
01:37I believe you've got some slightly more cheerful news for us there.
01:40Yeah, really sad news there.
01:41I'm going to keep things a little bit more lighthearted with the news of a new centre parks opening.
01:45So, a master plan has been revealed for a new 400 million pound Borders centre parks.
01:51So, have you been to a centre parks before?
01:53I have, I've been to the Sherwood Forest one, really, really fun trip.
01:56Yeah, so I think it's kind of well-loved across the country, isn't it, and across the UK.
02:00And key features of this one are going to include a sub-tropical themed swimming centre and village, plus 700 lodges and apartments.
02:07It's also a forest spa.
02:09There's a new lock being created for sports and activities, nature and heritage centre and restaurant and lots more, things like that.
02:17So, planning permission hasn't been granted just yet.
02:19But if it is, the development is expected to generate 750 to 800 jobs during construction.
02:25And then once it's operational, the village is going to create over 1,200 permanent roles, offering career opportunities for local residents.
02:33So, that's really exciting news for the area.
02:35And the total investment in the project is estimated at about £350 million.
02:39So, yeah, really big project on the way.
02:42Well, in the North West, we've got the new financial advisory firm is to open its first office in the region in Liverpool.
02:49Hoxton Wealth has established a site at the Seaside Avenue, Kew, Man Island.
02:54The firm has about £2 billion in assets under management and 7,000 clients.
02:59It started in Liverpool with a team of 14, but it's hoping to grow back to about 30 by the end of the year.
03:03Again, job creation is always great to see.
03:06The office will be headed up by its UK managing director, Jonathan Jay, who previously spent six years as an associate director at Investec Wealth and Investment UK's Liverpool office.
03:15So, he knows the area really well and brought in an experienced person there to lead the new team.
03:19Its chief executive, Chris Ball, said Liverpool is still something of a sleeping giant in terms of the financial services sector and said that the Liverpool office will be a great, great opportunity for the firm.
03:29So, we'll see how they get on that.
03:30Fantastic.
03:31And over to Gloucestershire now for even more fantastic news about one of my favourite topics, wine.
03:37So, there's a sustainable wine brand called When in Rome, great name as well, I like that.
03:42So, they have just closed a really successful crowdfunding campaign.
03:46So, you can find When in Rome in supermarkets, so Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Ocado.
03:50They're also in kind of independent cafes and bars across the country.
03:53And they've been on a bit of a growth journey and been funding to support that.
03:57They originally wanted to crowdfund £200,000.
04:01They've smashed that target and they've now hit over £300,000.
04:05So, done really well.
04:06They've said this is the last sort of crowdfunding campaign they're going to do because their next step is to attract VC investors.
04:13So, definitely want to watch.
04:14Yeah, certainly.
04:15It's going to be exciting to see what will be there.
04:18Yeah.
04:19For more on any of those stories, visit InsideEmmunia.com.
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