High regeneration spending in former coalmining communities over the past decade has not altered the fact than 5m people in such areas have poorer standards of health, education and employment than the rest of the population, a report published by SQW has found.
The consultant said the National Coalfields Programme run by English Partnerships and the Coalfield Regeneration Trust was on course to meet targets for jobs created, land cleaned up , houses built and commercial premises provided. But regeneration “was always going to take at least a generation”.
The Financial Times describes how the former Glasshoughton Colliery, in Yorkshire, now has a shopping mall and an Xscape Snowdome. A report for the government, published to coincide with a conference marking 10 years of Labour’s attempts to regenerate mining areas, said many of them, in more outlying areas, were finding it hard to adjust to life after mining. Local transport links are said to be a clear reason for the variety in economic performance.
23/03/07 Financial Times 6
