24/03/04 - County Council's euro-funding lobby cuts no ice in Brussels

Cumbria is set to lose out as a result of new proposals for European regional funding.

That is the message from two senior Cumbria County Councillors who have returned from a two day lobbying trip to Brussels.

Councillor Lawson Short, Cabinet member with responsibility for economic development and regeneration, and Councillor Kevan Wilkinson, Cabinet member with responsibility for transport and infrastructure, believe the European Commission is going to press ahead with the changes – regardless of what Cumbria other affected regions think.

And that means we are likely to lose out on vital Euro cash at a time when it is needed more than ever.

The Commission recently produced a report, A New Partnership for Cohesion, which contains its proposals for regional development policy for 2007-2013.  Regional policy is aimed at smoothing out economic differences between different areas of the European Union.

With the admission to the EU of 10 new member states, many of them representing the poorer parts of Europe,  the relative position of Britain and especially Cumbria has changed. Britain as a whole will be higher up the league table of wealthy EU members and the UK regions will find it harder to access funds from Brussels.

Meanwhile Cumbria is the only sub-region in Britain to have suffered negative growth and show a fall in economic output, making its need for regeneration support more acute.

But that cut no ice in Brussels. Councillor Wilkinson said:

“The Commission is determined to go ahead and adjust the criteria and that will be bad news for Cumbria. It will mean a substantial reduction in funding and no mechanism in place to deal with changing circumstances, especially in Copeland and Sellafield.

"Cumbria's need for regeneration support is growing and yet under the proposed policy it will be much harder for the County to win European funding.  We are suffering particularly from the long-term decline and disappearance of traditional industries like mining and agriculture. In an area such as ours it is not easy to create new forms of economic activity to replace them and we still need substantial support from Europe."

Councillor Short added:

“We lobbied in great numbers, and the strength and unity of our lobby was commented on by the people we met, but it looks as if they are going to press ahead with these changes regardless. We will continue to argue our very strong case, in conjunction with other affected regions, and hope that we can force the Commission to think again.”