06/11/2011 The Politics Show North West

In the north-west, businesses are set to benefit from millions of

pounds of government cash, but not everyone is celebrating. Plans to

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2228 seconds

move the fire control centre 150 The welcome to the Baltic shore in

the north-west. This week, north- west businesses are set to benefit

from millions of pounds of government cash, but not everyone

is celebrating. Fears in Cumbria or plans to move the fire and rescue

service 150 miles south to Warrington. -- over plans. This

week the government announced millions of pounds of funding for

companies in the north-west. Our political editor is in Blackpool.

Not everyone is happy about this, are they? They are not. As you can

see, I am outside a school in Blackpool. It is a business and

enterprise college. It is very much the focus at the moment, because of

this latest round of funding. Some people are not happy, because

previously we had the North West Development Agency, which gave out

a lot more money. It been it out to a lot more project. This week, it

is the Regional Growth Fund. The Government will be giving money to

businesses that can provide jobs. I have been down to see one of those

that has been very happy about the ACDC, business with a glowing

reputation. His East Lancashire company has already let up this --

let up distant parts of the world. It produces LED lighting. -- lit up.

Money from the growth fund would make things lighter still. If we

could get it we could run a special programme that would have a special

effect. We could hit �20 million turnover. That would have a

definite knock-on effect. It would bring in a workforce that is

already 100 up to 130 people. used to be a massive engineering

works in nearby Accrington. That is long gone, but inside is a new

company based in Lancashire. It successfully before �7.5 million on

behalf of local companies too small to bed on their own. Provided the

end result is to improve the overall employment and the

Investment we make, that is what we aim to achieve. He has already

helped lot of local businesses, but says the loss of the North West

Development Agency has made his job much more difficult. All the last

18 months we have seen a decimation of funding for regeneration. The

North West Development Agency made massive investment in core

infrastructure of things like transport, education, as well as

helping major business expansion. That is not available. That is

because the Government scrapped it to save money. The Regional Growth

Fund is supposed to plug the gap. Smaller organisations known as

local enterprise partnerships will also be bringing politicians and

business leaders together. certain areas of the North West it

will work more effectively and faster, Greater Manchester has a 30

year history of the authority's working together, and there is a

regional centre that is very important. Everyone recognises that.

In Lancashire, which is much more fragmented, the politics and the

economy will make it harder. They fought for funding in Bolton. 2000

kids at every week enjoy themselves at Bolton Lads and Girls Club, run

by Jeremy Glover. This is part of what is on offer tickets. This is

what we do. It gives them opportunity. -- offer to the kids.

He has found it more difficult. When the development agency went

down the Jude's, he had to find alternative sources for funding. --

when the development agency stopped funding. You have still been able

to fund, at through alternative sources? We cannot rely 100 % on

wealthy individuals putting up private capital. If we can have

government and local investment, then we have a chance. The Regional

Growth Fund it is cheering up some north-west businesses, and others

will have to learn how to keep moving without. I have got Geoff

Driver, the Conservative leader of Lancashire County Council. I also

have the Labour MP for Blackpool South. When you look at what we

have got with the Regional Growth Fund, do you share the joy of those

companies benefiting from it? course companies benefiting from it

are going to be pleased, and I am pleased from the companies that got

that money, but there has to be big questions. First of all, there is

only a third of the funding available that was available before.

Secondly, the process was chaotic. A lot of the expertise that was in

the Regional Development Agency has now been lost. We have to move on,

and if you look at the situation today, my real concern is there is

not enough money in the Regional Growth Fund start with. The time

that is taken to hand his money out is appalling. Geoff Driver, D

shared the disappointment? Not in the same way. -- do you share the

disappointment? Money was spent by the Regional Development Agency but

lots of it was spent in Manchester and Liverpool. Not much of it was

spent in Lancashire. That was not our experience in Blackpool, we

would not have had the package of acquisitions that we have now got.

We were very happy. There is a broader point about second level

towns and cities in Lancashire and across the country. They did quite

well under the Regional Development Fund. I do not take that point as

far as we're concerned. Many other parts of the region. Places like

Cumbria said they did not have any funding. They may say that, but the

real issue is the input into the decision-making process, I am all

in favour of localism, we have said that, that has been consistent. The

real problem is there is not enough funding, not enough power. There

has not been any sub-regional input. This is being micro managed in

Whitehall. You are on the board of one of these groups. It is working

very well for us. The Lancashire Enterprise Partnership has had some

trouble. The latest bid is going in today. We have acquired a strategic

site at the end of the motorway, we are rolling out Super fat broadband.

We only had the first meeting in May, so for us it is working very

well. Towards the end of the last government I attend a meeting in

Downing Street and the government were reflecting on whether we

should go to the regions or go direct to the sub regions. That

idea was becoming quite favourable. It is an evolving process. I do not

claim everything that was done before was brilliant. The key issue

now it is if this government is supporting local enterprise

sufficiently. It sounds great from what Geoff Driver is saying. That

is a list of what a local Enterprise Partnership would like

to do, but I can tell you haven't been up and down the country, not

all of them do have the support that Lancashire has had. It is a

direct result of this government not putting money into the process,

not giving them the powers that the small businesses should have. If we

are not careful, the slow speed at which this money is being given out

will have disastrous effects. only speak for Lancashire and it is

a list of what we have got. It is a fairly open secret there will be an

announcement for a substantial amount of money. Thank you very

much indeed. There is a big row in Cumbria over

plans to move the fire and rescue control centre from Cockermouth to

Warrington. Cumbria County Council has agreed to be part of a new

regional north-west control centre which could save millions of pounds.

The plans have prompted claims that the loss of local knowledge could

lead to a loss of life. The flooding in Cockermouth in 2009

because the mass destruction. A main bridge collapsed against the

rising tide. -- resulted in mass destruction. The fire and rescue

received many calls as panic spread. Two years on, that service could be

closing. There has been no consultation with the Fire Brigades

Union and no consultation with the public. People are very upset. West

Cumbria can ill-afford to lose any jobs. Most people do feel there

would be a huge loss to the public. The local knowledge that has been -

- that has been gained by some of our operators is just been

dismissed. Last month, Cumbria County Council agreed that the fire

and rescue service control centre should be moved to Warrington at a

central facility for the north-west. It has been estimated that a

regional call-centre could save �90 million. The concern is it is 150

miles away. Four years ago, at train derailed at Greyrig. Local

call centre operators were praised for the way they deal with that

operation. When that 999 call came in, they didn't just go to the

professional services but the mountain rescue volunteers. That

call handler knew that the people with the best form of vehicles and

access on the ground were actually not the professionals but the

amateurs. That is why more people did not die at an accident. Cumbria

has it Spear share of quirks. It is a large mountainous and brutal in

the up. -- a fair share of quirks. The plans are causing heated debate

at Staveley, and you would be forgiven asking what Staveley we

are referring to. We have more than one Staveley in Cumbria, and that

is one of the things that is so confusing to anybody giving

directions. It is important that when someone is receiving a call

they have a knowledge of where the location is likely to be. If you

are very far away it is unlikely you will know the difference

between Staveley and Staveley. Under the Labour Government this

regional call centre was built in Warrington. It cost �432 million.

It is state-of-the-art but it has been empty. The reality is all the

fire services have had their budgets cut. For some, moving to a

new facility saves money and makes sense. I generally believe that the

service will be improved with the new technology and state-of-the-art

building. We will improve the service. Anybody who questions that

needs to look at the facilities. Dr the fire chiefs, they will get that

understanding. -- talk to the fire chiefs. A regional control room is

expected to be in operation by 2014. The original idea is not a new one.

I spoke to the man at County Council of Cumbria with

responsibility, Councillor Gary Strong. This is not the previous

government's project. This is a collaboration between the fire

authorities in the region. We are working together to provide a good

and functional control the area in the Warrington building. The

Warrington building is there, it has been billed, -- it has been

constructed. You could argue, the money has been spent in Warrington

and you feel you need to use this expense of building rather than

thinking about what is good for the people of Cumbria. We don't have to

use it. Why are you? We know that fire services will be charged for

these buildings that had been built around the country. It is a

financial move, not for the good of the people of Cumbria. It is not

just a financial move, this gives us an up-to-date control system.

The fire authorities in the north- west had been wanting to improve

their fire control facilities and functions, but we have been led by

the previous government into the regional process, that has been

scrapped. Now we are working with our colleagues to provide a system

that is safe and functional and resilient. The local MP has said he

thinks it is a threat to public safety, because although the

technology might be there, the public knowledge isn't. In an area

like Cumbria, local knowledge is important. He uses the example that

there are two Steve Lees. -- Staveleys. Local knowledge is

important, but do we believe that the people in stop it -- the people

in the copper might know everything in Barrow? -- people in

Cockermouth? Firefighters in local areas have a lot of local knowledge

and that will not be lost. He says in the middle of a situation,

people might not be able to give precise postcodes, allowed that

local knowledge will become essential. I can assure the MP that

all local technology is being tried in London, the virus authorities

are joining together, this is not something I'd on its own. Fire

authority is across the country are looking at it. -- not something

that is being done in an isolated manner. We should be able to get a

virus even quicker. One of the regions is not going ahead with the

regional control centre, that is Merseyside. They decided to

consolidate with other emergency services and keep the service in

Merseyside. White and Cumbria do that? -- why can't? Merseyside were

going to join this collaboration until the last minute and they

decided to polite. The thing is, Merseyside arrow only now looking

at working with the police and ambulance service. It is not

something that has been planned. That is not something you would

consider in Cumbria? It has been looked at on a number of occasions.

1999, 2001, last year. None of the things we have looked that provide

the people of Cumbria with what we're going to provide with a new

control centre at Warrington which gives the taxpayer not only better

functionality and resilience but is a safer operating system and also

more efficient. Thank you for joining us. Time to look at the

round-up of the week's events. The planned Preston regeneration centre

has been abandoned after John Lewis pulled out this week. The plans had

been in the pipeline for the best part of a decade, but had to deal

with long-running legal issues. Very disappointed. Because of the

prevailing economic conditions, we decided to draw a line under the

town planning. The fisheries minister has waded is the

controversy -- waded into the controversy over the cockle beds.

He says they will close them if necessary because of illegal and

reckless fishing on the site. have to take decisions that put

human life as a priority. A amongst the many priorities -- a amongst

the many projects to benefit from funding was Stanley Dock in

Liverpool. It has been allocated millions of pounds to be