Border Telegraph | News | Anger as cash boost for Borders jobs could be over

Tuesday, 6th January, 2009

Published: Wednesday, 12th July, 2006 10:02

Anger as cash boost for Borders jobs could be over

By Border Telegraph Newsroom

FUNDING which has safeguarded over 800 jobs in the Borders is about to dry up.

Around 30 companies have benefited from Regional Selective Assistance since more than 1,000 workers lost their jobs in Galashiels and Selkirk with the closure of Viasystems.

And the millions dished out through the scheme have helped many Border towns recover from the economy crisis of the late 1990s.

But proposals revealed this week by the Scottish Executive and Department of Trade and Industry will see the Scottish Borders taken off the Assisted Area Status map – while other regions such as the Highlands and Islands, and Dundee remain.

Local politicians and council bosses are making a last-ditch attempt to convince the DTI to change their minds before the second review ends on August 8.

Douglas Scott, from Scottish Borders Council, said: “It is vitally important that we retain this status. A large percentage of the UK will still benefit from this, while we will not.

“This is still at the proposal stage, and we will make a strong response to highlight our case. We feel the Scottish Borders is as deserving of Assisted Area Status as any other area.”

Assisted Area Status arrived in the Borders in 2000 – the first time since 1982 – and has helped large companies such as Perident and Allflex set up in the Tweedbank and Hawick, respectively.

The grants have also helped more than 25 small-to-medium sized firms expand.

And the loss of the assistance is seen as a direct threat to attracting new companies and jobs to the area.

MP Michael Moore has demanded a meeting with industry minister Margaret Hodge. He told us: “People will be rightly angry over this response to the crisis we had with job losses at Viasystems and within the knitwear industry is being taken away. This will put us at a distinct disadvantage to many other parts of the UK when trying to attract investment and jobs.”

Despite steady growth in the Borders throughout the six years of assistance, the regions remains the lowest paid in Scotland.

But criteria governing area status for the next six years, which includes population and employment rates, will see coverage reduced from 48 per cent of Scotland to 37 per cent.

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive defended the proposals. He said: “The proposed new Assisted Areas Map has been produced by the DTI. However the map can only propose areas that would qualify under the EU Commission’s economic filter – for example, neither the Scottish Borders nor West Lothian meet the EC economic filter and are therefore not included in the proposed map.

“Local representatives still have time to make a case for the Scottish Borders, but if this were the case, small and medium sized companies can still receive government support. It is only large companies that would lose out.”

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