Energy Coast plan must serve grass roots

Published 17 July 2008

YOU wait ages for a big announcement, and then three come along all at once.First we learn the name of the new operators of Sellafield.Then it is revealed that £1.5 million will support the long-awaited clean-up of the Derwent Forest regeneration area.And then there’s confirmation that the Gover-nment will launch a massive regeneration initiative to transform West Cumbria into Britain’s Energy Coast.It may almost be too much for the man on the Moorclose omnibus to take in.The figures, after all, are mind boggling; £2 billion for the energy coast initiative, and claims that this could create 16,000 jobs and pump £800 million into the county’s economy.The danger in talking this up is that our friend on the omnibus might just think it is hot air.He’s probably sulking on the bus in the first place because he can’t afford the fuel to run his car; so much for an energy coast, he might think.What should make him sit up and take notice, however, is the detail behind the branding exercise.He knows that Sellafield is vital to the area’s future - that’s where he’s travelling to work, after all - and he can see the start of an offshore windfarm from his top-deck window.But it is the prospect of better transport links, a new hospital, university campus, and sports facilities that gets him interested.Once past the market-speak he wants to know when he’s going to get better roads, where he’s going to get hospital treatment and how his kids can improve their job prospects.As long as the Energy Coast plan makes a difference at this grass-roots level, then the man on the omnibus - and indeed all of us - will most certainly welcome it.