The council said its role is to make sure the £4bn investment in the factory by Agratas will benefit the whole county.
“Somerset Council has a responsibility to provide the infrastructure – that’s the training, making sure local jobs go to local people, and making sure the highways network can cope,” said Revans.
“Basically what’s going to happen is rather than us borrowing money and them [Agratas] paying us their business rates, and us using that to pay back the loan, they’re going to do the work and keep the business rates,” he added.
“There was possibly a small amount of risk [with the loan] if interest rates went through the roof that would be a liability to the council – we’ve eliminated a small amount of risk,” said Revans.
Agratas has announced the completion of the steel frame for ‘Building One’, which it said used 23,000 tonnes of British steel – the same amount used to build Wembley stadium.
It plans for the factory to open in 2027.
