12 November 2010Coalition Regional Growth Plans Spell Bleak Future for Dover.
So say the Labour Group..the following Press Release just in...
The recent announcement by the Coalition Government of its plans for Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) means the economic development budget will be cut by two-thirds, and that East Kent will be swallowed up in an area that runs from Eastbourne in East Sussex, to Saffron Walden in North Essex.
Cllr Gordon Cowan, Labour Shadow Leader of the Council, says:
“In the last years of the Labour Government some £62 million came into Dover District from the Homes and Communities Agency and a further £16 million from the South East England Development Agency. Both bodies are to be replaced by a Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) covering East Sussex, Kent and Essex. The make-up of the LEP has been slammed by all Kent’s Conservative MPs. And now we learn that all the LEPs across the country will have £1.4 billion to invest over 3 years when, under the original system, £1.4 billion was available each year. Not that we’ll see much of that money as current estimates for the cost of winding up the Regional Development Agencies will be, you’ve guessed it, £1.4 billion!”
Mike Eddy, Labour Shadow Deputy Leader of the Council, says:
“This is a disaster for Dover District and for East Kent. The Conservatives who run both the District and the County Councils have failed to make progress on the development of Dover’s Town Investment Zone in the St James’s area of the town. Any chance of future progress is rapidly disappearing as money for economic regeneration is slashed at the very time that it is needed most. And to add insult to injury, local councils will have to meet the set up costs of the LEPs just as Dover District Council’s funding is facing a cut of some 30%.”
(Ends)
I have illustrated this feature with a marvellous picture by Paul 'Scotchie' Wells.
It shows the dilapidated but beautiful Richborough Power Station. It's certainly beautiful in this shot, so congrats to Paul yet again for another cracking picture. PB.
