Regeneration

With personal knowledge and expertise, and my activist hat I'd love to praise the draft Regeneration strategy; but I cannot.  Does the Council ever learn?

13 odd years ago as Head of Science and Innovation for UKTI with a national responsibility I talked to the then Council CEO and Conservative Council Leader about cooperating with companies and skilled professionals on the island, alongside the Universities and Research Institutes I knew in order to generate innovative business and high skilled jobs on the island. They didn't seem to follow what they were being offered just wanted me to get them more money from the Regional Development Authority. Given their failure to understand the possibilities and the clear knowledge that they would be unable to use money constructively they received nothing and I stuck to my day job supporting UK  trade overseas, helping companies invest in the UK and developing a coherent approach to innovation across 12 different areas and groups aka the Innovation Map.

In 2018 the Council launched a Regeneration plan and took it out to consultation. I welcomed the idea and went through it carefully, spoke to the key people and attended a couple regeneration meetings across the island. And then went into a deep depression. 

It is clear that a lot of effort, on public engagement and expertise has gone into this plan. However the plan is a mixture of financial wishes focused on more housing to bring in Council Tax. It has limited plans for development and  no real focus on the key aspects of job creation or industry development. 

More housing is a nonsensical way to regenerate the island, build our industry and jobs and protect the environment. And given the vanishing hospital services and ever increasing ferry costs the possibility of success seem remote. 

There are some good ideas eg shared housing for older residents but there are more poor approaches. Two examples from the draft:-

Newport Harbour touted as a major development opportunity seems to consist of the privatisation of public space with little to support the existing business and organisations and even less maintain full public access.

Kingston Marina has been brought with the plan that companies driven out of East Cowes by the Red Funnel expansion can relocate. But there isn't the money available. Especially when the Council invest 19 million pounds of borrowed money in North West industrial estates. 

So what would an island focussed industrial regeneration strategy look like? 

We would start with talking to existing business and expertise. Your best investor is the one already here, not a new Chinese developer. Do they know how many people from the City of London live on and love the island? Given support from Council and other sources such as the Solent LEP we could find the most innovative and successful people on the island and find what they need. We could drive the creation of an Island Innovation Fund. Competitive and straightforward competition with a short term selected board; An Island Dragons Den without the theatricals. 

Other issues remain to be managed such as the ferry issue with and without Central Government help. Or even a genuine look at a fixed link if only to focus the minds of the ferry company owners.

We also need to find out all the successful and unique industries on the island and then bring together the education sector here and locally on the mainland to deliver the educated workforce they need. 

The island has a proud history of engineering with 100 years of constructing ships, boats and aircraft and with a current expertise in high level engineering, composites and boat building. 

There are other businesses eg sport, environmental tourism,  high level agricultural products and culture: we have a fantastic story to tell with cometent people working hard to deliver that success. 

This Regeneration plan ignores or damages the current successful industry. Stop throwing money in the wrong direction!