Spending Review points to a nuclear revolution for Gloucestershire economy.

The north Gloucestershire development of the Golden Valley might be the county's posterboy, but plans for nuclear for the South of the county will trigger an even greater economic driver.

The commitment to nuclear power projects by the Chancellor in her Spending Review is great news for the Gloucestershire economy.

My optimism is based on the fact that Rachel Reeves announced last week that Rolls-Royce are now the preferred bidder for the development of the new small modular reactors(SMRs).

I believe that these mini reactors-as many as six of them here in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire-have the potential to provide thousands of skilled jobs and the opportunity of millions of pounds flowing into our regional economy here in the South West.

Berkeley and Oldbury-the two former decommissioned nuclear sites now hold a major key to a big nuclear hub.

We have waited a long time for the result of the government’s decision on the SMR competitive bid but now that has been announced I expect the planning process to start in earnest.

However, this will not be a quick process and the development of skills for this new technology is a major challenge.

Earlier this year, in an exclusive interview, Simon Bowen, the interim chair of the government’s Great British Nuclear, told me: “There will be thousands of skilled jobs-at a wild guess 5,000 to 6,000 involved directly and indirtectly, and in the operating phase many hundreds of jobs.

“Those will be a combination of graduate roles, Phd roles and a lot of operator and apprentice roles too.

“The timings that keep me awake at night is how on earth we recruit those numbers of people into the area.”

I believe that Great British Nuclear will use the model of Hinkley Point C to take the SMR project forward.

This model has been used at Sizewell-muti-faceted and multi-certified. In my view, all our colleges in the region need to come together to form a nuclear training group as soon as possible.

Yes, it may be that the project might not see development on the sites for another three or four years and could possibly take up to 20 years to really get going.

However, the government’s statement now signals a hopeful green light for Berkeley and Oldbury—just four miles apart-to again play a major role in the UK’s energy policy as they have done in the past with the early development of nuclear power in the region.

*Ian Mean MBE is a member of Gloucestershire County Council’s Economic Growth Board,a former vice chair of GFirstLEP and former editor of the Western Daily Press.