In December I, along with cross-party colleagues, Alex Davies-Jones MP and Owen Thompson MP launched the Coalfield Communities Inquiry.
This inquiry was launched to identify a contemporary agenda for the regeneration of the former coalfield areas, such as Newcastle-under-Lyme. Central Government is investing in Newcastle and similar areas to enhance those communities.
Anyone interested is encouraged to submit written evidence to the inquiry. The deadline for submissions is Friday 27th January.
The submission form with the questions can be accessed via this link and then submitted to appg.coalfields@gmail.com. I have also listed the questions below - NB there is no need to answer all of them.
1. Most former coalfields still lag behind on a range of social and economic indicators. What do you consider to be the most significant problems?
2. Have the job losses from the coal industry now been fully replaced by new jobs in other sectors?
3. Are the new jobs of an adequate standard in terms of pay, conditions and opportunities?
4. Has the environmental legacy of the coal industry – spoil heaps, dereliction, pollution – finally been rectified, or are there still outstanding problems?
5. Is the physical infrastructure for local economic growth now in place, or are there important gaps that still need to be plugged?
6. Is a reliance on job growth and services in neighbouring cities a viable way forward?
7. Is the private sector willing to invest in industrial and commercial floorspace without support from the public sector?
8. Former miners are a dwindling group, but are their distinctive needs (including health) being adequately met?
9. Are younger people in the community able to access the training and education they need?
10. Is there a distinctive role for the former coalfields in the development of the ‘green’ agenda?
11. Do coalfield local authorities have the powers and funding they need to support local communities?
12. Has Levelling Up funding from the UK government properly targeted the needs of the former coalfields?
13. What should be the 21st century role for the physical and institutional structures – welfares, institutes, playing fields etc. – once linked to the coal industry?
14. How might identity, pride and heritage in coalfield communities be best maintained in the future?