UNIVERSITY of Chester's Lawrence Bellamy talks nuclear in his latest column

WARRINGTON’S Nuclear industry is world-class.

You can measure this by expertise, key projects delivered, innovations produced, finances and demand.

The world comes to Warrington for this engineering knowledge. When the Japanese Fukushima Nuclear plant disaster hit in 2011 Warrington firms were called.

The nuclear jobs market (with salaries typically at £35K plus for technical roles) indicates the health of the sector.

This industry has been built up through decades of research, training and project experience. However the success of the industry is not just about nuclear applications; the broader supply chain is also critical.

The Warrington area also has chemicals, petrochemicals, biotechnology, automotive and high-tech manufacturing elements.

These industries all need engineering, logistics, project management, process control, metrology, scientific research and many other specialist but shared skills and expertise.

The supply chains of these clusters support each-other and so when one declines the others can feel the impact. Nearby AstraZeneca and Hewlett-Packard (Birchwood) job losses mean a migration of expertise from the area, if employees cannot find jobs quickly locally. Success breeds success.

Warrington is part of the ‘knowledge economy’ and keeping the knowledge here is critical. So what can be done to make Warrington more attractive to investors?