Last updated at 12:26, Friday, 22 June 2012

NOW is the time for West Cumbria to be confident.

BRIAN WILSON

We need to think big and we need to think creatively. We need to reinstall the pioneering zeal that catapulted this strip of coastal plain to the forefront of the world’s nuclear and steel-making industries and update it for a low carbon future.

June 2012 represents a landmark for Britain’s Energy Coast (BEC) and the transformation of an economy that is truly facing an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The West Cumbria Economic Blueprint sets out where BEC and its partners will focus its time, effort and funding to ensure we achieve the “Holy Grail” of a robust and diverse economy centred on a commodity that will always be a huge value – energy.

We have a head start. Believe it or not West Cumbria is punching above its weight, but we could be doing so much better.

Our global reputation in energy, particularly nuclear; a thriving cluster of world-class research and development facilities; a strong manufacturing sector that continues to buck economic trends and an abundance of natural resources suitable for a wide spectrum of Clean Technologies create a uniquely attractive mix for businesses, investors and innovators.

We are known globally for our decommissioning expertise – expertise that is much sought after and is of extremely high value. It’s not just in the energy sector where we excel. From Italy to India mention railway tracks and it doesn’t take long for Workington to crop up in conversation. Our heritage explains why companies from France and the United States have made West Cumbria their home, why global powerhouses like Tata are investing millions in their local facilities and why they are taking West Cumbrian companies, such as TIS Cumbria with them to deliver contracts overseas.

More companies need to spread their wings and embrace the Britain’s Energy Coast ethos of “Acting Locally, Thinking Globally”.

There will be people who say they have heard this all before and why do we need yet another strategic document when we already have the vision set out in the Britain’s Energy Coast Masterplan.

The answer is simple: opportunity. The Masterplan provided high level aspirations for West Cumbria based on the gradual run down of 8,000 jobs at Sellafield. This picture of gloom has been replaced with the potential for £90bn of investment in nuclear related developments and more relating to other forms of low carbon and Clean Technologies, such as solar, wind, tidal and biofuels.

The Blueprint isn’t about replacing nuclear with nuclear. The aim has to be to diversification. We need to spread our wings and break the economic reliance on one sector and a few major employers. The goal is 3,000 jobs and a significant boost to the economy.

A huge part of this is going to be transferring ideas and knowledge from the nuclear sector into other forms of energy.

This is why we have provided funding to the University of Manchester’s Dalton Nuclear Institute and National Nuclear Laboratory to help new start-ups and existing businesses develop innovative Clean Tech products and services with global appeal. West Cumbria could rival Cambridge as a place for research and development in this field – a place where entrepreneurs with bright ideas want to come to seek the right support. We have to aim high and we need to be bullish.

We have already given financial support to help construct Cumbria’s first Anaerobic Digestion plant at Silloth and as you read this piece we are continuing discussions to pilot a tidal stream device somewhere along our coast.

We are developing urban and rural energy systems projects that provide communities with clean and cheap energy; and exploring the possibility of installing plug in points for hybrid and electric vehicle. BEC is practicing what is preaches and is committed to establishing a vibrant energy mix.

So far I have focused on energy, but there is so much more to the Blueprint.

Our aim is to create an entrepreneurial environment where businesses of all kinds have the potential to start and flourish.

We need to ensure business get the right support throughout their journey from small start-up to expansion and global reach. We also need notable local business mentors to put an arm around these budding entrepreneurs and help them to achieve their potential. Of course, we cannot ignore the need to invest in our physical infrastructure. We have to ensure businesses have the access to global markets – whether it is road, rail, or increasingly important high speed broadband. We can only be competitive if we can compete in the digital world.

We are also investing to improve West Cumbria’s business accommodation.

The Albion Square office complex development, which we continue to work closely with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on delivering, will have a substantial impact on Whitehaven’s town centre economy.

Everyone from retailers and coffee shops to hairdressers will have a potential 900 to 1,000 customers to target. Moving these people off site is part of a wider push to regenerate West Cumbria’s town centres, so they boast a quality day and night time offer to residents and visitors alike.

And finally we are supporting skills, training and education to ensure local young people have the opportunity to help deliver the Energy Coast vision.

Just a few weeks ago we celebrated work on the Britain’s Energy Coast Construction Skills Centre – a centre that will help to train local young people to support, if not lead, some of the major infrastructure projects planned for West Cumbria, whether it is potential new power stations, or improvements to our electricity connections.

We also received the news that the bid for a University Technical College had been successful; the only one of its kind in the UK to specialise in energy.

Such “firsts” just go to show that government sees us playing a lead role in Britain’s shift to a low carbon economy that is less reliant on fossil fuels.

In the foreword of the Blueprint, the government praises us for setting out a clear vision for our brighter economic future which has local and national implications.

They say we should be proud of what we have and ambitious about what we can achieve. They are right.

We should be proud but we cannot forget that ultimately our success will be in our hands.

This is why we need to get behind the Blueprint. We need to be confident, think big and creatively.

But most important of all we have to deliver on what we say.

RT HON BRIAN WILSON,
chairman of Britain’s Energy Coast

First published at 12:25, Friday, 22 June 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk