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Plea to
Clarify Enterprise Set-up
FIFE
CHAMBER of Commerce has called on the Scottish Government to
clarify what its restructuring of the enterprise network will
mean for Fife.
Finance
Secretary John Swinney announced that Scotland’s 21 local
enterprise companies are to be axed and replaced by six
regional operations, with local authorities set to play a
bigger role in economic development.
Fife
will now be included in the East Central Scotland region, which
will run along with Tayside, Grampian, South of Scotland, West
Central Scotland and the Highlands and Islands in the new
set-up.
While
Fife Chamber fully supports the review process and the view
that greater cohesion is needed in the provision of economic
development services, chamber president Duncan Dewar said the
group still had a number of concerns over the plans.
“Fife
must not be left in the shade with this reorganization,” he
said.
“Both
in economic and tourism terms, up until now Fife has been
unique with its own local enterprise company and tourism
agency.
“We
must emphasise to the Scottish Government the importance of
both to Fife and ensure we are well represented and benefit
financially from the new organizations.”
The
chamber fears the new regional structure could lead to a “loss
of focus” on developing Fife’s economy.
It
has also raised concerns about how Fife will fit into the new
regional structure – especially with two of the country’s major
cities, Dundee and Edinburgh, situated on either side.
It
has asked what role the Fife Economic Forum will play in the
new regional operations set-up and sought assurances that
investment will not fall below previous levels – the £16-18
million a year currently invested by Scottish Enterprise Fife.
The
chamber believes projects such as Fife Energy Park, Dunfermline
Eastern Expansion and St Andrews World Class would not have
been possible without the “strong local focus” driven by
Scottish Enterprise Fife.
Alan
Russell, Fife Chamber chief executive, said he had recently
written to John Swinney to bring all of the group’s concerns to
his attention.
“Our
preferred option is to retain Fife as an operational unit for
the future delivery of Scottish Enterprise services,” he
concluded.
“However,
if this is not to be, then we would wish to see a clearer
definition of how the future of business-led economic
development in Fife will be maintained and strengthened.”
Mr
Russell stressed that tourism support in Fife needed to be
strengthened and asked for the current local partnership under
the Fife Tourism Alliance to be “improved significantly” if
Fife’s potential is to be realized.
He
added that Fife Chamber was willing to contribute to a debate
on how this could be achieved.
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