Border Telegraph | News | Borders will be a 'faceless blob'

Monday, 13th October, 2008

Published: Wednesday, 6th February, 2008 11:30

Borders will be a 'faceless blob'

By Caitlin Smith

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FEARS are growing that changes to local business and tourist enterprises will have a negative impact on the Borders.

Local Scottish Enterprise and Visit Scotland companies will be reorganised on a regional basis from April this year.

But councillors claimed at a recent meeting that they had not received concrete information about these plans and were effectively being left in the dark.

Now, they have pledged to send a “strongly-worded letter” to the Scottish Government outlining their concerns.

Changes to the local business enterprise group were announced last September.

Scottish Enterprise will only be represented locally by a regional office, with no delegated power on spending or decision-making.

Additionally, responsibilities for local economic regeneration, careers and skills development, as well as duties under the Business Gateway remit, will be transferred to SBC.

According to worried councillors, the financial implications have not been detailed, with no mention of additional funding.

Councillor Vicky Davidson, Executive Member for Economic Development said: “It’s been a long time since the announcement was made and we still have no idea about what funding we are to receive and what exact additional responsibilities will be taken on by the council.

“There’s been a real problem in the way this has been handled because not very much seems to have happened.

“We need to send a strongly-worded letter to the Scottish Government to let them know of our concerns.”

Visit Scotland Borders will also undergo drastic changes when it is joined with the Dumfries and Galloway branch to form an overall South of Scotland board.

This led Councillor Michael Cook, Executive Member for Corporate Improvement, to declare during the meeting at Council HQ: “When these plans go ahead we will be stitched up as a faceless blob within the South of Scotland.

“This betrays sloppy thinking on part of the Scottish Government.

“We need to make the strongest recommendations to let them know from a Borders point of view that this is unacceptable.”

Councillors argued if the Borders is advertised under a South of Scotland banner it would not receive sufficient attention in it’s own right, thereby diminishing it’s profile within the rest of Scotland and further afield.

Discussions with VisitScotland suggest they will continue to have a local office based in the Borders.

But the staff structure will change and they have been encouraged to share back office services or co-locate with the Scottish Enterprise regional office.

Director of Planning and Economic Development Ian Lindley said during his presentation to the council: “The regionalised versions of these key agencies will not be able to support and represent the Borders in the way that they have done in the past.

“It is likely that there will be a loss of key staff, and their experience and skills, as well as a reduced level of financial resources available to support economic development in the Borders.”

But a Scottish Government spokesperson said they stood by their decision.

"These reforms will transform the way our enterprise networks operate and allow them to concentrate on supporting businesses and projects that can make a real difference to economic growth in the Scottish Borders and Scotland as a whole.

"We are determined not to lose strong local partnerships that are already delivering results."

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