Community Links

By Aaron Barbour

I was up in Blackpool recently, speaking at the Prowess Annual Conference. Our workshop was on worklessness and enterprise. We heard from local colleagues about their efforts, with the help of LEGI funding, to develop the area.

As I walked from Blackpool’s Imperial Hotel, along the North Promenade, by the sea front and into the centre by the iconic Blackpool Tower, I was struck by the decline and poverty of the place. Blackpool hits all the most deprived lists close to where we’re at in Newham.  Row upon row of closed or boarded-up businesses, endless take-away restaurants many closed for the season and clubs and bars. It’s a shadow of its former self.

We heard in the workshop that, of the 85,000 working age population, 20,000 – around 25% - claim benefits. This struck a chord with my talk about the inherent traps of the benefit and tax credit systems. Blackpool has some way to go and as I learnt steps to regenerate the area have begun. 

We did hear some positives. Vikki spoke about overcoming depression and the benefits system to set up her own business, a ‘cupcake shop‘, with help from the Get Started Team. The LEGI programme has reached its target of 400 new start-up businesses a year in advance; and the HERO programme works successfully with young people and schools to develop an enterprising culture in the next generation.

However, for the enterprising people of Blackpool, and many others across the country, who want to set up and developing their own businesses, the benefit and tax credit systems often represent barriers to progress. At the conference  we launched the first National Policy Centre for Women’s Enterprise (NPCWE) evidence paper, written by… yours truly, on ‘Women’s enterprise and the benefit and tax credit systems’. This paper looks at the role and impact that the benefit and tax credit systems have upon women’s enterprise. Have a read and let me know what you think.

NPCWE will formally launch their evidence paper series and new website on 20^th March at the World Entrepreneur Summit 2009.

You can download the NPCWE report
and download the text of my presentation at the Prowess conference.

Tags: Benefits, Blackpool Tower, Child Poverty, Community regeneration, London Borough of Newham, Prowess, Regeneration, Tax, unemployment, Welfare, Welfare to work
Posted in Benefits, Regeneration, Research, Welfare, employment |

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 at 10:31 am and is filed under Benefits, Regeneration, Research, Welfare, employment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.