The managing director of BAE Systems Submarines has told MPs that while public investment in Barrow was a significant foundation, the 10-year plan was not enough.
Steve Timms was speaking to politicians on the Defence Committee earlier this month whose members include the Barrow and Furness MP Michelle Scrogham.
Team Barrow, a partnership between central government, Westmorland and Furness Council and BAE Systems, will receive more than £200 million of government investment over a decade aimed at regenerating the town.
The project’s high-level strategic plan was set out in a new website called Barrow Rising which launched earlier this year.
The Defence committee, which met on October 21, heard from defence industry leaders about progress on the AUKUS programme, the tri-lateral partnership between the UK, Australia and the US which was reaffirmed by the Prime Minister in May.
During the session Mrs Scrogham questioned whether the aims of Team Barrow were being met.
She said: “I have raised my own concerns about what we are doing in Team Barrow: Is it enough? Are we putting enough focus on some areas and enough
funding into others to deliver what we need to do?
“I have voiced, quite vocally, that I do not think we are putting enough behind it to get where we need to be.
“We have managed to work really effectively with some of the workstreams within Government, and this is a completely new way of working. It is a bit like teething.”
Answering whether he thought planned investments go far enough Mr Timms told MPs he had some reservations.
He said: “I have a strong belief that to get the defence nuclear enterprise to where it needs to be for our national endeavour as well as the security partnership, we have to do as much in the yard as outside the yard.
“Allowing defence to be invested in should address certain issues, but we know that they are more structural than that.
“For me it represents quite a unique partnership that brings skills, funding and capabilities together, and should have a chance of unlocking some of the capability needs over the longer term.
“We need to revitalise Barrow-in-Furness as a place where people choose to work and live. We cannot have a transient workforce for such a vital role for defence and security.
“We need to satisfy two outcomes. The first is enabling and sustaining the defence nuclear enterprise efficiently and securely.
“The second is diversifying and strengthening Barrow’s economy and increasing its productivity. It is very easy for me, through my recruitment, to damage what I rely on and care about. We cannot do that.
“We have to attract more people to live and work.
“The £220 million Government-backed 10-year investment plan is a significant foundation, but it is not enough.
“It is a catalyst to enable us to address the structural issues.
“That will require us to substantially grow the population, build thousands of homes across the region, primarily in Barrow, and continue to grow the Barrow shipyard.
“That catalyst should lead to other investment models coming to bear. We need to accelerate the implementation of that intent.”
Mr Timms also told the committee 15,500 people were now employed at the Barrow shipyard.
Harry Holt, chief executive nuclear, Babcock International Group was asked about Team Plymouth, the city’s Growth Alliance which was relaunched in September.
“Barrow has a population of 67,000 and Plymouth a population of 260,000, and Devonport accounts for 14% of the GDP of Plymouth,” Mr Holt said. “At Babcock, we
feel that we play more of an anchoring role, rather than the more dominant role that BAE Systems inevitably plays in Barrow.”
Earlier Mr Timms reassured MPs that the AUKUS project was proceeding to plan and was on time.
He said: “I think we are doing well on the schedule. We have prioritised getting the design right, and it is important that we take the time to do that.
“There are lots of lessons from previous programmes, where that has perhaps been rushed, and then rushed into production.
“Obviously, we need to make sure that the requirements for satisfying our submariners’ needs for the longer term are properly understood.
“From a design point of view, we are well after that. That also allows us to commit to our initial long-lead-time items around the supply chain enablement.
“The area we are very focused on now is the infrastructure uplift and the development of the supply chain to move the enterprise from, broadly, a delivery cadence of one every 36 months to what the SDR indicated, which is one every 18 months.”
