'Thousands of new defence jobs' coming to city

ROYAL NAVY, BABCOCK AND CITY COUNCIL JOIN FORCES

- LORNA HUGHES

PLYMOUTH defence giant Babcock, the Royal Navy and Plymouth City Council are joining forces for a "once in a lifetime" push to bring 7,500 defence jobs to the city. The partnership aims to ensure Plymouth has what it needs to support its future growth with council bosses saying the city must get ready for massive government investment.

The three will work together to ensure that Plymouth "has the right infrastructure" in place for programmes at Babcock's Devonport facility that support the UK's submarine and surface fleet.

Bosses say it needs to attract an estimated 5,500 employees over the next 10 years, just to sustain its core defence workforce and a further 2,000 construction workers for the infrastructure contracts at the busy site.