COUNCIL HITS BACK OVER 'UNHELPFUL' REPORT

Newport Council's Deputy leader Ed Townsend has hit back at a report which described Newport as a city with a 'tough outlook' coming out of the recession.

The Lib Dem councillor says he was not a fan of the 'league table' format of the report and suggested that the challenges facing Newport are the same as those faced by Cities across the UK.

"It's a thorough piece of work and I respect the work they've done, but Newport is a city is a city that has already attracted a number of private and public sectors jobs to the area"

Independent think tank 'Centre for Cities' highlighted a number of issues affecting the city's ability to recover from the economic downturn. It mentioned the number of people with qualifications, the percentage of new businesses in the area, along with public and private sector employment levels as areas which need to be addressed.

It placed Newport towards the bottom of a list of 64 British cities as part of a report into relative wealth, citing the likes of Cardiff and Edinburgh as examples of cities that were better placed to recover well after the recession.

Councillor Townsend says placing Newport near the bottom of the list isn't necessarily helpful and that groundwork for taking advantage of any upturn in the economy is already under way in our city:

"What you have is a city that's absolutely ready to take off - look around you, you have a city centre site for redevelopment, a new railway station, a new road system, an ideal position between Bristol and Cardiff, we've got the right communications - as soon as there are people ready to invest, Newport will be a very attractive proposition."

When questioned about the education levels of the area he conceded that Newport has a larger challenge than most due to it's past reliance on manufacturing.

The report stated that the loss of private sector jobs over recent months was a big issue with one in six of the population having no formal qualifications. They described Newport as having a 'weak business base'. The deputy leader said

"All cities need to make sure that they have the right skills, Newport can draw on a workforce from the entire region. That's not to say we cannot improve - we really do have to improve the skill base to give the people of Newport the skills they need to get decent jobs and we will work hard on that. It's not a problem unique to Newport problem - it's a UK wide problem."

Dermot Finch, chief executive of the Centre for Cities was quoted as saying that the UK faces an 'uneven recovery', and that party leaders needed to 'wake up to the reality that some cities will still feel in the middle of a recession until well after the election'.

He added that the next government needs to address the fact that some cities are better placed to take advantage of an economic downturn than others, calling on them to help with 'improving schools and public transport so they can attract new business and jobs'.

It also said Newport also had a low rate of business start ups - they increased by 28.8 per cent in 2008 grading it the 61st out of 64 cities polled. Cardiff saw an increase in 34.6 per cent and Swansea had 31.6 per cent more.

The report named Brighton, Milton Keynes, Reading, Cambridge and Edinburgh as having the right ingredients to succeed after the recession has passed - strong private sectors and high levels of entrepreneurship with high levels of education in their workforces.

Newport was listed with Stoke, Burnley, Barnsley and Doncaster as five cities facing a 'tough outlook'.

Ed Townsend feels that other cities face the same kind of challenges however:

"I wasn't very keen on the league table format. If you look inside the criteria they used in the report you'll find the need in every single case to 'up-skill' the workforce. That's something that is a challenge whether you're Cardiff the capital of Wales, Basingstoke or the so called richer places like Oxford and other market towns around the country."

"The challenge for them is the same - ours is on a larger scale coming out of a large manufacturing base we need to change the emphasis and we are doing, but the challenge is there for every city."

To hear the deputy leader's response in full click here


Paul Heaney

CITY COUNCIL IN DISPUTE WITH ICELAND FOODS

Newport City Council could be faced with a difficult and costly dispute following a decision by Iceland Foods to challenge (via judicial review) the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) of two of its stores in the Austin Friars area of the city centre. The CPO was originally served in 2007.

The Cabinet of the City Council stated it was very concerned about the basis of the challenge by Iceland Foods who appeared to be putting self interest before the opportunity to develop the city centre to the benefit of their own business and of all other businesses in the city centre. The Deputy Leader Ed Townsend stated that he hoped that Iceland would come to the table and work with Council officers who could facilitate the identification of a suitable alternative site near the original premises. It was confirmed that under the terms of the CPO, Iceland Foods would be subject to compensation for losses.

Iceland Foods contend that the decision to proceed with the implementation of the CPO at the present time is “unlawful” because

• The Council is effectively acting ultra vires by using the CPO powers for a different purpose to that originally intended

• The Council has failed to reconsider the alternative proposals that they put forward at the original CPO Inquiry and has failed to have regard to their “Human Rights”.