The Coalfields Regeneration Trust, the only organisation dedicated to levelling up the former coalmining communities throughout the UK, has shown its support for an independent report authored by Professor Steve Fothergill and Tony Gore of the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University.
Providing a foreword to the ‘Plan for the North’, Sir Steve Houghton, Leader, Barnsley MBC; Dan Jarvis MP, Mayor of South Yorkshire and Ros Jones, Elected Mayor of Doncaster, share the findings which focus on how to deliver the levelling up that’s really needed.
Within the document, reference is made to Land and Property, with the point made that there is a need for more developments to strengthen the labour market and deliver economic opportunity for regions in the North of England.
Chief Executive of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, Gary Ellis, comments: “The Plan for the North makes clear that more needs to be done if we are to level up. While we support this document, we also want to reiterate that we are already making a positive difference in many of these areas.
“Take Kellingley as an example. We are starting work on a £3.6m industrial development to provide high quality growth space for SME businesses. Furthermore, we will be working with local stakeholders to explore how we can reinvest a proportion of the income generated to deliver against our three priorities for action: employment, skills and health and wellbeing.
“While we welcome the focus that this report shares, we urge government to work with those that are already making a difference and that have the infrastructure in place to deliver meaningful change, addressing the unique challenges our communities are faced with.
“We know that the process of levelling up is complicated, but it is not impossible. If we work together and redirect funds and resource where it is needed most, we can make the changes needed now and for future generations.”
