Threat to a vision: Money is key to learning dream

MONEY may not be available to fund a new university and many other future developments in East Lancashire, a Government boss warned.

Baron Isherwood, director of the Regeneration Group for the North West Government office, urged delegates to a major conference not to raise their hopes too high.

He warned that cash may not be available for many of the projects which were discussed at the Ewood Park event, including extending Manchester's tram system from Bury to Accrington.

His speech rounded off the "Developing A Vision for East Lancashire in 2020" conference at Ewood Park, which was sponsored by British Telecom.

Earlier the event had heard from a series of speakers who said that by working together the area's quality of life could equal major cities in terms of opportunities for education, employment, health and recreation.

John Tilley, director of East Lancashire Partnership, which organised the event, said: "It would be wonderful to have a University of East Lancashire.

"It is impossible to say how a university could fit in with the current college set-up or whether it would be a stand-alone centre.

"What is relevant is that East Lancashire people receive the best education facilities." He said a faster, more frequent public transport system could also be on the agenda.

Mr Tilley added: "You can now get to one end of the M65 to the other in half an hour. We need to be able to have a rail service which, for example, would allow people to get to Burnley from Blackburn in 10 minutes.

"Whether we have a bus, tram or rail system in East Lancashire will have to be investigated."

The aim of the conference was to kick start ideas to see how the area can develop in the next 20 years by bringing together business, schools, colleges, local authorities and community associations under one East Lancashire group.

Caricature image that must be changed

"ALL that people in East Lancashire do is buy the house next door."

That's the stereotypical view of East Lancashire that Martin Crookston, one of a series of speakers at yesterday's conference, said his granddad still held.

Mr Crookston, a leading economist, said it was vital that the caricature picture of the area was wiped out.

But he said it was also vital that East Lancashire capitalised on its industrial heritage, Victorian values and rolling countryside.

Another visionary, Eric Bichard, director of the National Centre for Business and Ecology, said self-sufficiency was vital for a prosperous and successful future. He said it was vital the area pooled its resources to look beyond the locality and forge global links across Europe and the rest of the world.

A potential revolution in education and schools was outlined by John Abbott, who flew in from his American home to speak at the event.

Mr Abbott, president of the 21st Century Learning Initiative, spoke of his crusade to revamp the education system by getting away from the constraints of the classroom to "lifelong learning."

His speech included the possibility of primary schools having annexes which could be used as seven day-a-week community learning centres.

Former Queen Elizabeth Grammar School pupil, Graham Whitehead, who is now advanced concepts manager at British Telecom, spoke about how the technological explosion was going to continue over the next 10 years.

He said 25 years ago most households did not have microwave ovens, video recorders or colour televisions and nobody had heard of a pocket calculator.

Hopes for the millennium

FREE university education and the use of environmentally-friendly electric cars are among East Lancashire youngsters' hopes for the millennium.

A group of teenagers from youth centres in Hyndburn and Pendle performed their own drama production of what young people wanted to happen by the year 2020. They kicked off the Ewood Park conference with the hard-hitting show which outlined their vision of the future for a range of East Lancashire families.

The series of sketches posed a series of questions which they wanted to be addressed by the conference.

Among the innovations the teenagers wanted to be introduced by the year 2020 included banning cars from town and city centres; catalytic converters on all vehicles; reform of the Criminal Justice System; foreign languages to be taught in primary schools; health education to start in primary schools; free prescriptions; decriminalisation of cannabis; tougher action to counter racism; green land to be preserved; and a revamp of the National Curriculum.

Chris Reeve, area manager for Lancashire Youth and Community Service, said: "Young people will not stay in this area unless there is something to keep them here.

"They held their own 2020 Vision conference recently and this is some of the issues that came out of it. The future is about the young people of today."

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