Dogger Bank wind farm could means 'jobs for life'

Yorkshire Coast College is altering the training it offers in anticipation of Dogger Bank being built

College leaders have said plans for an offshore wind farm off the Yorkshire coast could provide "jobs for life."

A consultation is currently under way into a plan to construct a 3,475 sq mile (9,000 sq km) site at Dogger Bank.

Yorkshire Coast College, in Scarborough, said the development would mean a major expansion of the training it offers.

The college said the wind farm would bring much-needed job opportunities to the local area.

A four-company consortium, Forewind, which includes Npower and Scottish and Southern, together with Norwegian energy companies Statoil and Statkraft, hopes to secure permission to develop the site.

Developers said Dogger Bank could generate up to 9 gigawatts of electricity.

'Fantastic opportunity'

Andy Eaton, head of the school of engineering at Yorkshire Coast College, said: "It is a fantastic opportunity for the whole area when you think about the amount of money that could be invested."

Mr Eaton said jobs for young people were hard to find and that the college tended to train people who then moved away from the area.

He said this potential development could change that.

"These are jobs in the local vicinity and jobs they could have for their whole working life," he added.

The college has already begun to make changes to its vocational training curriculum.

If approved, work could begin on the 2,600-turbine farm, 100 miles off the east coast, in 2015.