There's a very real risk that another tranche of motor industry history and several hundred jobs - in the form of Dunlop Motorsport - are about to disappear from Birmingham. Oddly, that risk hasn't come about through business failure, but rather success.
The rapid growth of Jaguar Land Rover has meant the latter has (understandably) acquired the Ashold Farm Road site that Dunlop leases so as to expand its burgeoning Castle Bromwich plant. And while Dunlop Motorsport has been granted a three-month extension to stay on its current site until September, production is set to cease in May.
A possible new site for Dunlop Motorsport has been identified by Birmingham City Council and the firm just a few miles away in Aston, which is part of the 'Advanced Manufacturing Hub' in Aston. Owned by the council, the site has a local development order already in place, so no planning permission is needed. The City Council has, it seems, also worked up other options for Dunlop to look at, including:
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* a 29 hectare site at the Hub, Witton, Aston, Birmingham
* a 30 hectare site at Prologis Park Midpoint, Minworth, Birmingham
* Signal Point, Battery Way, Tyseley, Birmingham
* Part of the former Rover site at Longbridge, Birmingham
* Citadel Logistics Centre, Bilston, Wolverhampton
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* Amber Way, Halesowen, the Black Country
* Birch Coppice in Tamworth, Staffordshire.
But it appears that no financial incentives have been offered to the firm as funding rules are based on job creation, rather than safeguarding posts. I can't imagine that happening in, say, Germany.
While it seems that the local authority is ready to back a bid for Government grant funding to help Dunlop Motorsport move sites, it's not clear what funds would be accessed or when.
The closed round nature of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) also doesn't help. Round 5 of the RGF bidding process has closed. Round 6 takes place this summer. Those arbitrary deadlines are meaningless either for a firm looking to stay in the 海角视频 or to make an investment into the 海角视频. There was, of course, much more flexibility and support on offer under the 'old' RDA Advantage West Midlands that was scrapped by the current coalition government.
So far, Dunlop's top brass in Ohio has not signed up to the new site in Birmingham on offer. The fear is that the board may make the strategic decision to shift production to Spain or Germany.
A spokesperson for Dunlop stated this week that " we have always said that first of all we wanted to stay in Birmingham, which is why we made a long-term offer to stay on the site. We have been looking at local options and have been working closely with Birmingham City Council and private property agencies to look at local sites.
"It is now down to the board to make a decision. Now we have got the information that there is a three-month extension that will help to make that decision more quickly ."
Dunlop leaving Birmingham would be a sad blow for a city region which has been busy repositioning itself on the cutting edge of automotive technology - in premium, low carbon and sports cars.
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And that's where Dunlop Motorsport fits in so well, in projecting the city as a motor sport hub, at the northern end of the wider 'motor sport valley' stretching from the Midlands down to Oxford. That motorsport industry increasingly 'spills over' into the mass industry through lightweight materials, regenerative breaking, high-tech tyres and much more.
And therein lies the rub. Losing several hundred high quality jobs and 125 years of history would of course be bad enough. But factor in the impact on Birmingham's claim to be part of the 海角视频's brilliant motor sport industry and the risk of losing Dunlop Motorsport is potentially damaging for Birmingham wider hopes of boosting its advanced manufacturing sector.
So it's good news that the Birmingham Post launched its campaign to keep Dunlop In Birmingham this week (see ) and that Jack Dromey, MP for Birmingham Erdington, has secured a Dunlop Summit hosted by the BIS Secretary of State, Vince Cable, after Mr Dromey raised the issue in the House of Commons. Let's hope some heads can be banged together and a site deal put together to keep Dunlop in Birmingham.
As Mr Dromey noted this week, "the Dunlop factory is truly remarkable in the world of motorsport, as a large local employer and as an iconic part of Birmingham and Britain's industrial life.... that is why it is of real concern that after over a year of discussions, the future of Dunlop in Birmingham remains uncertain.
The recent Centre for Cities report highlighted how Birmingham was punching below its weight as a second-tier city. The city needs to create over 110,000 jobs just to get employment rates to the 海角视频 national average. Hanging on to the brands and high-tech activities that help define our unique 'offer' would perhaps be a good start.
* Professor David Bailey works at the in Birmingham.