Calls for 'written commitment' over Lotus factory

The Lotus factory has been based in Norfolk since the 1960s

A council leader has called for "a written commitment" over the future of the Lotus car factory and warned the area could not "afford to lose" it.

Reports suggested the company's owners, China-based Geely, were considering shutting the company's site at Hethel in Norfolk, where 1,300 people work.

A statement from Lotus said the company had "no plans to close the factory" and following a meeting with Geely, Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he "was reassured".

Conservative county council leader Kay Mason Billig said reassurances were "good news" but she still feared jobs were under threat.

She echoed the concerns of South Norfolk's Labour MP Ben Goldsborough, who called for "openness" after talking to Geely representatives last week.

Following the meeting, the Department for Business and Trade said Reynolds had "set out the government's commitment to working with Lotus and the wider car sector to improve competitiveness and drive growth".

"We need to keep that factory here," said Kay Mason Billig

Along with South Norfolk District Council and the Norfolk Business Board, Mason Billig signed a letter asking Reynolds "to do what you can to obtain a written commitment from Geely to protect Lotus in the UK".

"Lotus is a large employer and it's one of the bedrocks of Norfolk," she told the BBC.

"Everybody looks at Lotus and thinks 'Norfolk'. We can't afford to lose a factory of that size in this county."

The letter also questioned the government's recently announced Modern Industrial Strategy.

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves has called it a "10-year plan to deliver the certainty and stability businesses need to invest in the high growth sectors that will drive our growth mission".

But the letter warned it was "predominantly focused on city regions, the North and the Midlands".

It said whilst Norfolk had strengths in areas including the clean energy, agricultural technology and financial services sectors it was "overlooked", with much of the funding for the east aimed at Cambridge.

Nova Fairbank said more focus was put on Cambridge, compared to the rest of the eastern region

Nova Fairbank, chief executive of the Norfolk Chambers of Commerce, agreed.

She said: "Cambridge has been so successful that people don't tend to look away from Cambridge.

"We have many high growth sectors and as a business community we stand ready to support economic growth and jobs in this region," she added.

Lotus said its position had not changed and insisted there "are no plans to close the factory" in Hethel.

A spokesman for the government said its Industrial Strategy "has introduced ambitious plans to drive growth and investment in every region of the UK, including Norfolk".

They added: "The strategy builds on Norfolk and the East of England's strengths and will be developed further by upcoming plans for the Life Sciences, Defence and Financial Services sectors which will support Norwich's thriving and historic insurance industry."