Preston Vision battles for survival
WORK has begun to try and secure alternative funding for Preston’s regeneration body Preston Vision, which is to lose all its funding in the North West Regional Development Agency’s (NWDA) cuts.
It is one of 30 agencies across the region that will lose NWDA funding at the end of the financial year in March.
The NWDA has slashed budgets and axed plans to fund more than a 100 project as it strives to cut 18% – or £52m – of its annual budget.
Preston Vision, which has worked on regeneration plans in the city such as the pictured Tithebarn shopping centre, is totally dependent on the NWDA for its £425,000 annual budget.
Board members are now holding talks with Lancashire County Council, Preston City Council and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) over alernative sources of funding.
Chair Malcolm McVicar, also the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Central Lancashire, said: “Preston Vision is the link between the public and private sector. Without the organisation, it is difficult to see how programmes such as the creation of the central business district – a home to grade A office space designed to attract scores of new companies – will still happen. That sort of development is absolutely essential to the future of this great city and its residents.’
He added: “Preston has in recent years been in the top ten nationwide cities for private sector job creation, with 17,100 jobs created in the ten years up to 2008. However, if the city is to continue to fulfil its potential, the initiatives currently being co-ordinated by Preston Vision are absolutely essential.”
