Is this a renaissance for northern Ryedale? (From Gazette & Herald)

Is this a renaissance for northern Ryedale?

PLANS to boost the prosperity of Pickering, Kirkbymoorside and Helmsley were set in motion last Thursday when Yorkshire Forward launched a Renaissance Market Towns programme to an invited audience of more than 40 councillors and local business people.

Three consultants will be funded until March 31, 2004, to work with existing local agencies to draw up detailed plans for renewal.

The lead consultants who will be working with the communities are Steven Leach, of Fourgables, Mary Holt, of Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick & Co Ltd and Iain Scott, of the Robert Owen centre.

They will help develop a 25-30 year vision for the towns, based on a 'master plan' and an 'investment plan'. These will mark out how niche markets, services and rural connections work in the towns and decide ways to make them desirable places to live and visit.

However, some councillors expressed concern about the lack of actual allocated funding connected to the project, which is part of a change in policy for Yorkshire Forward.

District Coun Natalie Warriner said: "We don't want to start the plan and then find we can't continue. It seems absolutely wonderful but we need to know the time-scale of funding."

Rhona Pringle, of Yorkshire Forward, explained that the change in funding had resulted from the 'very sharp learning curve' that was the Market Towns Initiative carried out in Malton and Norton, due to finish in March 2004.

"If you say you have this much money and this amount of time to spend it, then money isn't spent effectively within a long-term plan. We need to look at how these things fit into the wider picture - like affordable housing, transport and leisure."

To those who expressed suspicion over funding, she acknowledged the need for an increase in trust.

"We as a society have got used to short-term funding and it takes time for people to change. People are used to a culture of 'what do I have to do to get the money?'.

"They want cast-iron guarantees that things are going to happen and we can't give that. It's about using the consultants to help them decide what they want to do. The towns have got to take ownership for it for themselves."

Chief executive of Ryedale District Council Harold Mosley was cautious in his praise, warning that a lack of results would create disenchantment and resentment among residents.

He said: "I'm here to welcome this initiative, it provides a flexible framework for Helmsley, Kirkbymoorside and Pickering.

"However, I would like to stress that if all this effort isn't followed by achievement then you will get disappointment and dis-empowerment.

"We have got to get some practical results and achievements.

"I would say to the consultants you are working with very intelligent and experienced communities who know how the world works and have already identified many of the issues which need addressing.

"We don't just want a detailed plan for regeneration, we need action and results."

Updated: 09:21 Wednesday, October 29, 2003