Future looks brighter for Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.
Monday 14th March 2005 became a landmark day for the Waveney and
Great Yarmouth sub region as the Office of the Deputy Prime
Minister (ODPM) gave approval for an Urban Regeneration Company
(URC) to be established in the sub-region. Funded and supported by
the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) and the four local
authorities involved - Suffolk, Norfolk, Waveney and Great
Yarmouth, the URC has targets to turn around the deprivation of
recent years and bring jobs and economic growth to the two
areas.
Currently the two towns account for the 25 per cent of all those
unemployed in the whole of Norfolk and Suffolk and Great Yarmouth
has the highest unemployment rate in the East of England.
Questions and Answers
1) What is a URC?
An Urban Regeneration Company is a special kind of company
approved by the government to organize the physical regeneration
and redevelopment of particular towns or cities.
2) Who funds and who will run the
URC?
The URC is funded by the Regional Development Agency (EEDA) and
the four local authorities involved – Norfolk, Suffolk, Great
Yarmouth and Waveney. It will be run by a private-sector led board.
It will have a small staff and a chief executive with a track
record of delivering big regeneration projects
3) What will it do?
It will start by commissioning a masterplan for the whole of the
URC area in Yarmouth and Lowestoft. The URC will then help
developers sort out town planning, build the right kind of good
quality property, and organise the infrastructure needed. If
necessary, it will arrange for one of the funders to buy and
develop sites or provide public space. It will help market the
towns to new employers. It will also make sure that everyone is
pulling in the same direction. This gives everyone confidence that
the two towns are a good place to build and a good place to live
and work.
4) Why do we need it?
The two towns have lost a lot of jobs and have major areas of
the riverside that are scruffy and run down. The two towns have a
quarter of all the unemployed in the whole of Norfolk and Suffolk.
Making these areas attractive again will attract better housing,
offices and leisure activities and these in turn will provide new
jobs and a better living space for the people who live in the
towns. We also have two big initiatives – Eastport and the
renewable energy sector - that will need the support of physical
developments if they are to work properly.
5) Where will it operate?
In Lowestoft: Lake Lothing, the Fish Dock and Ness Point
In Great Yarmouth: North Quay, Cobholm, Southtown, South Quay,
South
Denes, Runham/Vauxhall.
It covers around 1,500 acres, mainly of industrial land which
can be developed and 16 miles of waterfront prime for regeneration.
Not everything in the URC areas needs redeveloping, but a lot
does.
6) Does that mean people outside the URC area lose
out?
No, the aim of the URC is to make jobs and facilities available
for everyone in the area.
7) How important is this
announcement?
There are only 21 URCs in England, mainly in big cities like
Liverpool and Sheffield. Getting this is a major achievement for
Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. It has involved a lot of hard work by
all four councils and EEDA and it shows that everyone is committed
to making the two towns prosperous once more.
8) What happens next?
We will be selecting private sector board members and chairman.
Then we will advertise for a chief executive and staff. We will
also commission the masterplan.
9) How do the private sector board get
appointed?
We will be advertising for applications from people with the
right skills to be chairman or to sit on the board and appointing
the best candidates we can find.
10) Who looks after the community
interests?
We are asking the two Local Strategic Partnerships – who
represent all shades of local interest – to nominate two directors
to look after the community interests.
11) Will we have a say in what the masterplan looks
like?
Yes, the consultants who produce the masterplan will have an
extensive consultation in both towns before they produce the
masterplan.
12) How long will it take for the URC to make a
difference?
It usually takes up to a year before the masterplan is
finalised, so people must be patient. But if we can find a few
“quick wins” in the meantime, we will.
You can find out more about the Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft URC
by visiting http://www.1steast.co.uk/