The Commission was set up by Minister for the North West Beverley Hughes to help fight the North West’s corner during the current difficult economic climate and to ensure the region emerges stronger than before.
The projects were identified at the second meeting of the JEC and now the Minister will pursue progress on them through both local stakeholders and the Council for Regional Ministers in Westminster.
Among the projects the Commission are to pursue are:
- Greater Manchester Waste Projects.
- Bolton Community College development – discussions are to take place with the Learning and Skills Council re investment.
- Carlisle Northern Relief Road - approaches are to be made to the transport ministers to discuss issues of finance.
- Housing growth across the region – pump-priming finance to be discussed with ministerial colleagues.
- West Cumbria hospitals – the Regional Minister will talk to local interests and the Strategic Health Authority to find a way forward for this key Energy Coast project.
Minister for the North West Beverley Hughes said:
“The work of the Joint Economic Commission for the North West is vital to the economic future for the region. The region is now starting to feel the effects of the downturn, which means that we need to double our efforts. The news isn’t all gloomy though, with businesses involved in overseas trade still reporting positive results.
“We have identified some key projects where we will be taking action to try and expedite their delivery to the benefit of people, businesses and the economy of the region.
“These are in addition to the long term strategic priorities we identified at our first meeting (M62 corridor, Energy Coast and renewable technology).
“They will not be the only projects we tackle. More work is underway to identify others which may be stuck and which the JEC can help. This is not about creating new priorities, it is about helping priorities already identified to move forward.
“The Homes and Communities Agency will coordinate a site by site housing review to prioritise actions to get house building restarted and will also be looking at issues around rentals and mechanisms to stimulate new investment.
“New arrangements are also being put in place to manage large-scale redundancies in the region that may arise along with action to preserve and increase the number of apprenticeships, notably in the Civil Service.
“The JEC has also commissioned a study on housing debt advice in the region and how to simplify advice and information to individuals facing difficulty.”
The Minister and the Chairman of the Northwest Development Agency also announced additional transition funding to help improve the finance options available to new and existing businesses in the North West
