North East Automotive Alliance secures share of £5m to support Sunderland SMEs

The cluster will deliver a programme targeting 50 business on Wearside

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15:07, 29 NOV 2023
Updated08:02, 30 NOV 2023

A group shot of some staff from the North East automotive alliance. — The NEAA team, from left: Joe Routledge, membership manager; Stuart McGivern, project manager; Julia Bell, senior business administrator; Paul Butler, CEO; Chris Appleby, innovation manager; Laura Gage, marketing & PR manager; Mark David, skills manager. (Image: David Wood)

A key car manufacturing sector body in the region has secured part of a £5m investment to help scores of businesses in and around Sunderland.

The North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) has been awarded a share of Sunderland’s Shared Prosperity Fund Programme, which in turn is part of the £2.6bn UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). The sum will be used to drive NEAA's Local Automotive Business Support - Sunderland (LABS-S) which will run until 2025, taking support to 50 businesses in the Sunderland region.

The LABS-S project will work towards some of UKSPF's key ambitions which are to boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards to support economic growth. It is also tied to Sunderland City Council’s City Plan (2023-2035) which aims to address the city's social and economic challenges.

In announcing the new funding, the NEAA has highlighted the region's automotive strengths, including being home to the country's largest car plant, Nissan's Washington site; hosting three of the UK's top five off-highway manufacturers and 34 first tier suppliers as well as other supply chain SMEs. The NEAA, a membership organisation that formed eight years ago to support the competitiveness of the North East sector, said it had been independently audited as being able to provide economies of scale for regional and national programmes.

News of the investment follows Nissan's significant commitment to the North East plant in recent days with the announcement it will produce all-electric versions of some of its most popular models at Washington. The Japanese carmaker says it will produce electric Qashqai and Juke models in the North East as part of an investment worth more than £1bn and involving a third gigafactory to provide batteries for the models.

Paul Butler, CEO at the NEAA said: “We’re delighted to receive a share of the Sunderland UKSPF programme, which will enable us to continue the active work we do to help automotive businesses, particularly here in Sunderland. The automotive sector has shown tremendous resilience over the past few years as it has come through a series of hurdles and the NEAA remains committed to supporting and facilitating the collective needs of our automotive supply chain in the North East to accelerate business growth.”