Jaguar Land Rover is bringing 800 new jobs to Merseyside, reports Deputy Business EditorTony McDonough

JAGUAR Land Rover placed its Halewood factory at the centre of its UK operations yesterday, and secured its long-term future by announcing the new low-carbon “baby” Range Rover would be built there.

The move will see an extra 800 jobs coming to the factory over the next year-and-a-half, taking the number of people working at the site to 2,500.

It is also claimed the decision could secure up to 2,000 jobs in the wider north-west supply chain.

Preparation work will begin immediately on preparing the site for the production of the LRX, which the company claims will be the smallest, most fuel-efficient Range Rover ever.

The model will be sold in more than 100 countries worldwide by 2011.

Business leaders and politicians in the Liverpool city region welcomed the move last night, but unions were angered by the news that JLR is to close one of its two Midlands factories.

The company, owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, will decide next year whether to close its factory at Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands, which makes Jaguars, or its site at Solihull, which makes Range Rovers.

However, JLR insisted there would be no compulsory redundancies in the region.

The announcement will come as a relief to workers at Halewood, where JLR is about to cease production of the Jaguar X-Type, leaving just one model at the site – the Freelander – and leading to 300 voluntary redundancies.

The leaders of both Knowsley and Liverpool councils last night welcomed the announcement.

Knowsley leader, Cllr Ron Round, revealed the authority had already agreed to allow JLR to defer its business rates until March next year, boosting the factory’s cashflow by £3.6m.

“This announcement is fantastic news for the Halewood plant and the borough of Knowsley,” said Cllr Round. “The council and its partners have worked with the company to provide assistance during the recent challenges it has faced and we will continue to provide support.

“This will include practical support with training, up-skilling and recruitment to meet the company’s future needs.”

Liverpool City Council leader Warren Bradley paid tribute to the workers at Halewood, saying they were “top-notch”.

He added: “Great credit must go to the workers at Halewood. If you’d have said 25 years ago that this kind of thing would happen, people would have laughed. But the people at the factory have really turned things around.

“This decision enables this region to remain at the heart of the automotive industry for many more generations.”

Cllr Bradley claimed the announcement could also secure the future of around 2,000 workers in companies that depend on the Halewood factory.

HIS view was backed by Neil Barlow, of the North West Automotive Alliance, who said: “This is obviously very good news for direct local suppliers like Johnson Controls, Decoma and AIC and the new model may even see the creation of new jobs.

“If you then include other businesses that depend on the plant like food and newspaper sellers, then you could be talking about up to 200 local companies benefiting.”