With the scrapping of Regional Development Agencies what will now happen to the Erewash Partnership? The shifting sands of economic development in England have shifted yet again. Whereas other Countries tend to unite to secure European Funding, Tory Governments don't like interfering in market forces. Even if it can attract financial assistance to our benefit.
Will the new "Local Economic Partnership" have sufficient funds to keep local partnerships like Erewash Partnership going? Or is the organisation heading for the buffers? We may soon find out now the elections are over.
Even Erewash Partnership, if it survives, hasn't the clout to carry much weight in bringing land, such as the Stanton site back into use. Erewash Council itself has little or no expertise left within the organisation to drive Stanton or any other development project forward. The County Council seem like bystanders as far economic development is concerned. The days when the County managed to bring Toyota to Derbyshire are long gone, they too have lost the capability. The future looks none too bright for economic action in Erewash at the moment.
Areas like the Stanton site need pump priming money to bring more of the land back into use and to deal with over a hundred and fifty years of pollution. Usually Government intervention is the key to reclamation. With a Government that isn't interested in intervention we could lose out on any help from Europe even if such help is still available. The site could continue to be a wasteland which would be a social and economic tragedy.
No comments:
Post a Comment