Carbon fibre factory 'could create 400 jobs'

Energy Way is already home to businesses including Lenzing Fibres

A carbon fibre production factory planned for Grimsby could employ almost 400 people by 2030.

The factory, proposed for brownfield land at Humber Gate, off Energy Park Way, has been proposed by LeMond Carbon UK Ltd.

The business is an offshoot of the LeMond Carbon business, which is run by three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond.

The Grimsby factory would be LeMond's first in the UK and its first carbon fibre manufacturing plant.

The site proposed for the factory was previously the home of Bluestar Fibres, but it was mostly cleared in 2015, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The application, made to North East Lincolnshire Council, requests full permission for a production plant with manufacturing lines and offices, as well as outline permission for a second manufacturing facility.

The development would cover more than 387,500sq ft (36,000sq m), and would include yellow features to reference LeMond’s Tour de France victories and the winner’s yellow jersey.

'Greener carbon fibre'

In its application, LeMond – better known for manufacturing bikes – makes the case for the use of carbon fibre in the renewable energy industry.

It also says it plans to cut the amount of energy used during the manufacturing process through new technology developed at Deakin University in Geelong, Australia.

"With this new technology, the cost of production is reduced by 30%, which opens the way to increasing supply, and carbon emissions arising from the production process [are] reduced by 50%,” it says.

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