Wedgwood wins £5m towards £25m revamp
More than £5 million has been awarded to Staffordshire's world-famous Wedgwood estate to create new jobs and help in its planned £25m transformation.
It is believed the cash will secure 43 new jobs at the company and create another 590 across the county in areas such as construction and supply. Wedgwood-Waterford-Royal Doulton received a total of £5.1m from a pot worth more than £1 billion from the Government's Regional Growth Fund which will now be put towards the ambitious scheme.
A spokesman said the £25m transformation would be carried out at the firm's Barlaston estate near Stone.
He said: "The project will provide new state-of-the-art ceramic manufacturing facilities to meet increasing demand from global markets, new and fit-for-purpose office facilities and an expanded and upgraded visitor experience that will attract significantly more visitors to Wedgwood."
Other county groups to benefit from the cash include North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce, GE Power Conversion of Kidsgrove and industrial engineering firm Goodwin PLC, which has its headquarters in Trentham.
Staffordshire County Council leader Philip Atkins said: "News that four projects in our area have been successful is fantastic."
Wedgwood-Waterford-Royal Doulton is consulting on the plans and intends to submit a planning application for the revamp of its site by the end of the year.