Regenerating Wales: Key Issues

On January 6th CREW and WISERD jointly convened a seminar at which Professor Kevin Morgan of Cardiff University explored some of the key issues in the regeneration of Wales and the Welsh economy.  Comments on his presentation have been received and are posted here to encourage a debate about future regeneration policy and practice in Wales.  Please join the debate and add your voice to those heard at the seminar.  Please visit the CREW website to join other CREW activities and to receive notifications of future events.

·         On the theme of myths and realities one must question whether Wales has in fact ever functioned as a self sustaining economic entity compared to other regions of the UK. As we know our former industrial base was built on coal, steel and petro chemicals and when these started to decline a post war policy of inward investment founded in the late 1940’s at Treforest Industrial Estate by the Welsh Industrial Estates Corporation and then more latterly by the WDA. Interestingly today we have a situation where Tesco is now the largest private sector employer in Wales and Admiral Insurance (former inward investor) is the only Welsh firm in the FTSE 100! This legacy of dependency / master and servant relationship has not been conducive to the birth of local enterprise and will take many years to change with perhaps the current generation of school children being our first real hope of a changed mid set assisted by programmes such as the Apprentice and Dragon’s Den i.e. popular culture.

·         To me the first real effort to stimulate local entrepreneurs came with the formation of the Enterprise Agency movement in the 1980’s and bodies such as Ogwr Partnership Trust, MADE (Merthyr) and the Neath Development Partnership were good examples of this grass roots movement. Unfortunately due to funding difficulties many of these organisations seemed to divert their attention to training activities rather than the encouragement / support of entrepreneurship, provision of small start up space etc. However, there were some notable success stories of home grown talent. Unfortunately most business support organisations now seem content to sign post potential entrepreneurs to potential sources of finance / information rather than roll up their sleeves to provide practical advice and guidance / introductions to sources of finance / testing / refinement of business plans etc. Do we need to rekindle the Enterprise Agency movement?

·         Whilst I am as patriotic as the next Welsh man I feel that since devolution too much money, time and effort has been spent in trying to make Wales function as a self sustaining economic entity. Evidence for this can be found in a review of WAG’s Economic Renewal New Direction document (July 2010) which makes little reference to the economic impact of the English regions on the Welsh economy and the opportunities to build on this potential advantage. Having read the document you would think that England did not exist nor that thousands of Welsh people in South Wales commute everyday to Bristol and the South East for employment and in North East Wales to Manchester, Liverpool and Chester. Although not ideal it is an economic reality and unlikely to change. Therefore should WAG consider an economic policy based on improved linkages with their respective English regions rather than perpetuating a national economic model that is basically flawed. By doing this it may then allow greater emphasis to development of the local economies in Mid, South West, North West Wales which would fall outside of the wider dynamics of the South Wales / South West or North East Wales / Mersey Deeside economies. 

·         At grass root level one area of the economy where Wales seems to have a disproportionate level of success and raw talent is in the field of popular music. Given the size of population the number of renowned artists is quite staggering i.e. Stereophonics, Lost Prophets, Bullet for my Valentine, Duffy the Manic Street Preachers, Tom Jones, Katherine Jenkins to name but a few. This is a massive industry where we potentially lead the world but how much of the value is being capture or retained in Wales? It is interesting to note that Decca Music has recently launched a campaign to find the future Welsh music stars. However, if successful how much of the income generated will be captured by the Welsh economy? Is this not an area where we could get our act together to build a successful Welsh based music industry?

·         As an active Regeneration Consultant one of my particular concerns is the number of reports and studies which are commissioned only then to gather dust as there is no one to implement the findings.It seems to me that that whist there is an abundance of people to strategise and commission work there are very few experience regeneration practitioners leading task and finish groups to actually implement outcomes and findings. Perhaps this has something to do with wide array skills it is necessary to hold to be successful in the delivery of regeneration which when combined with a somewhat maverick nature and the willingness to do battle against injustice and social imbalance are frankly in short supply. As a starting point I would look to move the majority of Local Authority Regeneration staff into the field to gain practical hands on experience rather than remain in the relative comfort of Civic Centres i.e. do rather than talk.