About 5 years ago, I was asked to meet with the Low Pay Commission about how the National Minimum Wage might be able to lift areas out of poverty.
They were a fascinating group from trade unionists to professors of economics etc and the conversation flowed really freely; it is inflationary but it has to rise to make people feel better of working etc etc; but it was just one lever amongst many.
I finished by saying, actually a town like Hartlepool needed the equivalent of a Marshall Plan which Germany had post WWII which they understood after having a look at the place.
Long term, visionary, and fully funded to put it right.
Blackpool needs it even more looking at those figures.
The problems are easily recognised; the solutions exist; BUT it will take everyone, citizen, public, private sector coalescing together around a shared vision for the town and what it can be as we head into mid 21st Century as that's how long it will take.
There are far too many piecemeal, short term attempts at addressing long term intractable problems; generally well meaning, but it's never going to cut the mustard or make the sustainable changes.
First thing I'd do, is start with the strengths, the bright spots and make them world class attractions now. The illuminations are great; but what we can do with light shows at pop concerts kind of shows the "same old" isn't good enough as an example.
It will always be more difficult as Blackpool carries a unique place for desperate folk who are fleeing places like Preston which offer little or no hope of a brighter future; how you create a sense of identity with such a wide variety of arrivals isn't easy; but London does it. What can we learn (not withstanding it's a far richer place) about how to do that?
Fundamentally, we need to make better and nicer places; but we also need to make the community a stronger place too.
Everyone of us can and should be playing a role in that.
And yes, 25 years of deep, deep work and funding would massively help.
