Exclusive:Removal of chemicals from site holding back Grangemouth investment, says UK minister

Blair McDougall, left, at Rolls Royce on Friday | Rolls Royce

The £200 million UK Government investment in Grangemouth is being held up by the removal of dangerous substances from the site, a minister has said.

Blair McDougall said “the remediation of the land” at the former oil refinery has “been identified as one of the key things that is holding back investment.”

The UK Government promised £200m from the National Wealth Fund for the site last year.

But it admitted recently that none of it has yet been spent.

Speaking while on a visit to Rolls Royce at Inchinnan in Renfrewshire, Reindustrialisation minister Mr McDougall said: “We had a Grangemouth taskforce meeting again a few days ago, between myself, Scottish Government, Office for Investment, all the all the partners together.

“One of the key things we focused on was: on a former chemicals and refinery site, one of the big challenges is the remediation of the land because that's been identified as one of the key, not by not by all means the only, but one of the key things that is holding back investment.

“And so we're looking at how can we move more quickly on that, so that we can we can bring in those jobs and that investment, because the the money the money is there and ready to ready to be deployed when we get those investments to to progress.”

The Grangemouth refinery closed last year | PA

The SNP has been particularly critical of the UK Government for not yet delivering the Grangemouth money.

Some 400 workers were made redundant when the plant stopped refining last year and converted to a import terminal.

Nealy 400 more jobs at industrial hub are at risk after chemical manufacturer Syngenta announced that it plans to cease all operations at the site by the end of 2027.

The company, owned by state Chinese firm Sinochem, said the closure would result in 377 job losses, although it added that no final decision had been made.

Mr McDougall said he did not want “to offer people false hope” about keeping their jobs.

Read more: Nearly 400 jobs to be lost at Grangemouth as chemicals producer to close plant

“It's incredibly challenging. It's a very, very difficult situation. So I'm not going to offer people false hope.

“What I can say is the company are being very open with us and working very closely with us about all the different options for the future of the site, but as I say, for me it it just reinforces the importance of moving at speed in that wider kind of industrial plan for the Grangemouth site.”

He added that he had met with Syngenta earlier this week.

He said: “I met with them again a few days ago, which I think is my my third meeting with them.

“They're in a pretty tough situation with the decisions being taken at their global HQ. We're continuing to talk to them about how to support the workforce, about the potential for alternative investment on the site.

“Obviously the wider job we've got to do in in Grangemouth is about sort of remediating the sites and getting the ability to unlock that £200m National Wealth Fund investment that we put in, as well as the £120 million we put in to keep the keep the chemicals businesses going.”