Pirelli’s Carlisle expansion plan approved

Carlisle City Council has approved Pirelli Tyres Limited’s plans to enlarge its plant in the city’s southeast. At the meeting of the council’s Development Control Committee on 15 November, the plan for the extensions to the Daltson Road production facility and storage area was “approved with conditions”.

According to the committee’s recommendation, the Pirelli project’s main aim is to secure the 850 existing jobs at the Carlisle plant (although a small increase in direct jobs may result from the extension) plus the 3,000 supplier jobs related to the facility. In addition to a 210 metre by 10 metre extension to the production area, which will house new process machinery that “will have a higher technical capability and provide Pirelli with the technical capacity to produce new more environmentally sustainable tyres,” Pirelli’s plan calls for a 210 metre by 10 metre extension of the Carlisle plant’s storage and retrieval facility in order to accommodate the storage of uncured tyres.

“It is wonderful that Pirelli are bringing a major investment such as this to Carlisle,” committee member Hugh McDevitt told local publication the Times & Star. “It is an international company which has another site in the UK and plants across Europe so it is great to see they have decided to put money in here.

“It is a big show of support and seal of approval for the workforce and for the relationship Pirelli has with the city and the council,” McDevitt continued. “I’m sure it will encourage other companies to look at what is happening here and what opportunities there are in Carlisle.”