The boss of the ceramics firm now based at the former Royal Stafford factory is backing renewable energy but warns it won't save the pottery industry on its own. 

TG Green & Co managing director, Charles Rickards, says the chancellor is right to support renewable energy but warned factories will close if the government fails to protect British ceramics manufacturers from fossil fuel powered factories exporting products from China to the UK.

During a visit to Stoke-on-Trent on Monday, the chancellor Rachel Reeves said government investment in "home-grown" renewable energy would help ceramics manufacturers in the city.  

Within 12 months TG Green & Co will start developing plans for a newly-built factory in Stoke-on-Trent powered by renewable energy and it may come sooner if the business expands faster than expected. 

Charles told Stoke Nub News: "Rachel Reeves is right that renewable energy has to be used, but she has a responsibility to ensure British manufacturers can compete on a level playing field, and that's where it all goes wrong. 

"Renewable energy is something I completely support but the reality is British businesses are competing with Chinese manufacturers who have subsidised power in terms of cost, with the majority coming from fossil fuels, mainly coal.

Royal Stafford collapsed in February with a loss of 83 jobs. (Nub News)

"If we can't compete with these kinds of manufacturers because we're paying a premium for renewable energy, the irony is that the Chinese businesses will win an even increasingly large market share, and the world will get dirtier and hotter.

"As a country, we can pat ourselves on the back and say that we've invested a lot in renewable energy, but if we don't have businesses to use it because we can't compete, then it's actually been a total waste of time and money, because we'll have windmills which won't need to be turning around, because there won't be any factories to supply. 

"The request, from a British manufacturer of ceramics, is let us play on a level playing field.

"In the old days, there used to be a quota system with Chinese manufacturers so they could only sell a certain amount into each market per annum, or there are tariffs."

TG Green & Co has just taken on a £58,000 contract from a company in London and there are other former Royal Stafford customers in talks with the manufacturer about potential production at the factory. 

The firm has now employed 17 workers out of the 83 who lost their jobs in February when Royal Stafford collapsed. 

Charles added: "I appreciate it's a small number, relatively speaking, but it's a start.

The company has now employed 17 people at the Burslem factory. (Cornishware)

 "I'm a cautious kind of business guy, and I don't like to over promise, but I'm hoping as we win more business and grow our own business, I hope that we will expand. 

"I would like to build a new factory centre in Stoke on Trent, which is contemporary, and not only just in how it operates but also, more importantly, how it sources its power. 

"So we want to use renewable energy and building somewhere to suit our needs very specifically is better than than just hiring a new shed trying to fit all our machines."

"A really special bunch of people"

Charles first stepped into the Royal Stafford factory days after the collapse to look at the machinery with auctioneers who were working with the liquidators.

He then got together with the former production manager at the Royal Stafford factory, John Nixon, who reassembled some of the old team to come back to work.

The team, with decades of experience, worked "on the quiet" for ten working days at the factory before the acquisition of the machinery and factory lease was announced to the public.

Charles said: "They even volunteered to work the first couple of days for free because they were, if not more, keen than I was to get the show back on the road again and they've been an absolute delight and breath of fresh air. 

TG Green & Co are currently leasing the Royal Stafford factory from the current owner of the building. (Nub News)

"They're really a special bunch of people, and it's interesting because they've worked with each other for so long, so it wasn't just about them getting a job and taking a paycheque, it was very much a family, and they felt that that family had been broken up, and this was a chance to bring some of it back together again. 

"The attraction of Royal Stafford was most of their staff have been there for, on average, I should think somewhere between 25 and 30 years so we were inheriting a wealth of skill and knowledge. 

"Acquiring the Royal Stafford machinery and re-engaging their staff has now allowed us to expand the business because at Cornishware, the challenge is not the sales but manufacturing the significant quantities to meet demand." 

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