Last updated at 15:02, Tuesday, 26 June 2012

BRINGING jobs to Barrow has to be at the forefront of the council’s responsibilities, a retiring town hall boss has claimed.

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Tom Campbell, chief executive of Barrow Borough Council since 1992, is stepping down from his role this Friday after opting for voluntary redundancy last summer.

Mr Campbell has witnessed the industrial landscape of Barrow change over the past 24 years since moving to the area.

He told the Evening Mail: “The town physically has changed dramatically. It’s always difficult when you live in an area to comprehend how much things are changing around you.

“People who visit the town who haven’t been here for a while always say to me they can’t believe how much it has changed.

“When I came in 1988 we’d done very little pedestrianisation, there were very few out of town developments apart from Asda.

“A lot of the brownfield land was still to be developed and regenerated. There was no Portland Walk.

“The bypass hadn’t been done. People used to drive in through Dalton, along Abbey Road and it was four lanes of solid traffic.”

Mr Campbell said he sympathises with traders who are suffering due to the economic climate, but said Barrow is not faring as badly as some other towns.

He said: “It doesn’t matter how well you promote things if you live in a catchment area that is big enough to support businesses.

“In my own opinion, I think the town shops do very well and when you look at what is happening in places like Morecambe, I think we are doing relatively well.

“My heart goes out to traders though, it is the worst retail recession we have ever lived through and hopefully it will be over soon.

“As shopping contracts, the council has to be involved in restructuring and redeveloping the town centre.

“Barrow was a town at work when I first came here. There were jobs everywhere really but all predominantly from the shipyard or linked to the yard.

“Now we have a very diversified economy, it is split in thirds between distribution, manufacturing and the public sector.

“But there just aren’t enough jobs and that has always been what has driven me – helping the council to try and create employment.

“There is nothing worse than being unemployed and not having any prospects.

“At the moment, I am sorry to say it is the younger people in the town who are suffering.

“Anything that we can do in these difficult times to create opportunities for them is what everyone at the council has to be focused on.”

Mr Campbell lists the stalling of the marina development as one area where he had hoped for further improvement and said the project will have a defining effect on the area.

He said: “Not everything works the way it is supposed to. I’m very disappointed that the Marina development has had to stall because the government support, in terms of finance, just isn’t there at the moment.

“That doesn’t mean we aren’t making progress, in fact I think we will complete the acquisition of a big site this year.

“But I would like to have seen it a bit further down the road before I hung up my boots.

“I do think that development will be a major change for Barrow.

“It will change the image of the town much more than anything else we have done.

“I think it is something that is needed and we are going to be short of good quality housing developments soon.”

The amount of available affordable housing in the town will be boosted by a recently announced government grant of £3.4m to bring 200 empty homes in Barrow Island back into use.

Mr Campbell said although this will boost the economy in the short term, revenue will need to be boosted to see a long term effect.

He said: “The Barrow Island flats is a very interesting one because at the end of the day, we are in an austerity government. Money is being cut left, right and centre but we have still found a way to persuade them to provide some significant capital. The difficulty at the moment is not the capital, as we are not in a bad position as the council is maintaining a strong capital programme, it is the revenue that we’re short of.

“But that money will be very important because it will hopefully allow us to get more flats renovated, which will create an opportunity for people to move back on to the island and boost employment opportunities.”

First published at 13:22, Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk