So, we have a new government. We await with interest what it will mean for the future of the projects lined up in Torridge for consideration under the Conservatives’ Levelling Up Partnership funding to tackle regional inequality. Labour have said that the Levelling Up policy has failed and were reportedly intending to axe the phrase, if not the scheme. However, Deputy PM Angela Rayner has now been appointed Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and other indications suggest that they have broadly adopted the Levelling Up agenda and want to get on with it rather than going back to square one. 

This is good news because the board of regional and national stakeholders set up to oversee the Levelling Up agenda locally has now produced The Torridge Place Story – a prospectus showing ‘why Torridge is a good place to invest’.  This document is going to full council for approval next week. The report shows how investment in our area could contribute to the measures of deprivation on which Torridge was deemed eligible for the funding. It is good to see our Heritage Harbour status mentioned in the document, if only briefly. Those of us in the River Torridge Heritage Group believe there is much more that a focus on heritage can contribute to regeneration and revival and would like to see heritage projects more central to such initiatives. 

Meanwhile, there is a big question that the new Government will need to answer soon in relation to Appledore Shipyard. The owners Harland and Woolf have been unable to file their accounts for last year and share trading has been suspended because the (previous) government had withheld approval for a £200 million loan guarantee needed to finance new borrowing. The company has said that it hoped the new government would do so immediately after the election, or its ability to take on new contracts would be in jeopardy. Clearly, the issue has the potential to seriously damage jobs and opportunities across north Devon unless it can be settled soon. 

There is no doubt that big changes are under way, not least to the planning system, as Labour sweeps aside planning regulations in order to give a boost to the sluggish economy. Will this mean we will see even more unwanted development in our area? Or will they provide the funding necessary to build the social and affordable homes local people need? We will follow this with interest.

TT