Report to the People
2nd January 2006
Happy
2006
Happy New Year!
As we pin up our new
calendars and polish off the last of the Madeira cake, our thoughts turn to what
the next twelve months will hold. You
don’t, though, need to be Russell Grant to foresee that 2006 will be a make or
break year for Inverclyde.
Although some progress has
been made with our regeneration – Riverside Inverclyde, for example, has begun
redeveloping the waterfront and new housing is springing up on what was once
derelict wasteland – a number of significant challenges remain.
Our economy, for one, is
still too dependent on the vagaries of the electronics industry.
Relying on a small number of large employers in one industry will never
deliver real economic stability.
I hope, therefore, that 2006
will be the year we finally get our own Urban Regeneration Company – a move
which will ensure that substantial investment, both public and private, will be
used to maximum effect. This is
something about which I was in talks with Ministers at Holyrood throughout 2005
and, I’m assured, their commitment to our area remains undiminished.
Also undiluted is the
Executive’s support for the Gourock development. It has remained ready to invest heavily throughout the
project’s troubled history and now, armed with stronger powers over the
railways, things can get moving.
With a number of pieces of
the regeneration jigsaw coming together, 2006 presents us with an exceptional
opportunity. And if we don’t make
every effort to fit them together, who knows when we’ll see another one?
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