Report to the People
The Regeneration Game
The scars left on our community by the industrial vandalism of the late 70s and throughout the 80s run deep.
None of us who lived through these dark days needs reminding of the mass unemployment and widespread deprivation with which the loss of five shipyards and an engine works in less than a decade left us. And, although we have come far since then, attracting a new range of major employers and regenerating sections of the waterfront, some of that legacy remains.
Faced with a life on the dole, many members of the workforce upped sticks and left. Like other former heavy industrial areas, this exodus, combined with a continuing perception of decline, has resulted in a falling population.
Although we are making progress – the most recent population projections have been revised upwards and the figures show the rate of decline is stabilising – this is nonetheless a major challenge and one which must be addressed if our economic regeneration is to be sustained.
I was therefore glad of the chance last Thursday to raise this issue in a debate in the Scottish Parliament.
The key question, I argued, is "What pushes people away?".
While there is no doubt that the availability of jobs plays a part, it is not simply about the number, but their quality. We cannot build and sustain a community on low paid, low skill, temporary employment.
But it is not only about suitable jobs. The regeneration game is a package deal.
To make Inverclyde a place of choice, the general quality of local life must be high. We need to provide affordable, quality housing in the areas where people want to live. Parents need to know their children will be well educated in a warm, comfortable, classroom which is fit for teaching in the 21st century. Our environment must be improved and our brown-field sites redeveloped. Crime, and perceptions and fears of crime, must not be allowed to drive people out of Inverclyde and deter newcomers.
This will only come about, however, if all of us who live and work in Inverclyde play our part. We – from elected representatives, to business, to the wider community – have a responsibility to silence the prophets of doom, raise expectations and put in place the plans for the future of our community.
With the appropriate government support, this can be done. Population projections are just that – projections. They are not set in stone and we are not destined to terminal decline.
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