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Search for think-tank supremo



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Published Date: 29 August 2008
By Staff Copy
A senior figure is to be recruited to lead an overhauled Preston think-tank.
Council bosses want to employ a chief executive to head the much-criticised Preston Vision Board and bring millions of pounds of regeneration cash into the city.

Today, councillors were being asked to back making the board a limited company – know
n as Preston Vision Ltd – to give it more clout and make it more accountable.

The public-private sector body has helped attract £14m of North West Development Agency (NWDA) cash to Preston since 2005, with several million more in the pipeline.

Jim Carr, chief executive of Preston Council, said he hoped the new organisation would attract £18m-£20m in the first three to four years of its life.

He said: "The idea is to have a high-profile chief executive who can relate well to the private sector and negotiate with potential developers with the aim of attracting entrepreneurs into the city.

"We will be able to use the NWDA money but we need private sector investment too, so we need an individual who will relate well to that agenda.

"As yet, we haven't agreed a job description or renumeration package but I'm pretty sure the board will want to attract the best individual they can and the best they can afford."

Council leader Ken Hudson fears that without the extra powers, the vision board will be out-done by similar organisations in Blackpool and East Lancashire in the competition for NWDA money.

He said: "It's absolutely vital that Preston seizes the opportunity that is now presenting itself."

Leading figures at John Lewis, Grosvenor and Lendlease – all central to the £700m Tithebarn project – will be invited to join the new organisation, along with representatives from Preston Council, Lancashire County Council and the university.

South Ribble Council would also be asked to put someone forward as a company member.

For more on this story see Thursday's Lancashire Evening Post.

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The full article contains 334 words and appears in Lancashire Evening Post CTY newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 28 August 2008 4:05 PM
  • Source: Lancashire Evening Post CTY
  • Location: Preston
 
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barnfarm,

28/08/2008 12:28:24
Could we see a breakdown of the £14million NWDA money (taxpayer cash dispensed by a quango) this lot supposedly attracted and how it has been/will be spent? I simply don't TRUST these people.
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ThePrestonOne,

Preston 28/08/2008 13:28:59
Barnfarm: Why wait for a story to appear on this or another website before stating that you want to know where the money has been spent? If you were that bothered I would assume that you would have been in touch with either the Board or the NWDA to seek assurances to your question.

I spoke with the procurement team at the NWDA some 12 months ago about a Lancashire project which - in my opinion - had misused public money. My concerns were investigated and I was content with the outcome. I didn't wait for an article to appear in a local newspaper before reacting.
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barnfarm,

28/08/2008 13:41:46
Sorry 2, I thought that was the point of a 'news' website. Consult it to learn what is 'new' and then, if your curiosity is piqued or temper tested, add comments or ask questions which might prompt a reporter to make further enquiries. Btw, so glad you are 'content' with the quango system. Many people see it as fundamentally undemocratic, but good for you.
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ThePrestonOne,

Preston 28/08/2008 13:54:28
No, you misunderstood. I never said, or even eluded, that I thought Quangos were a democratic system and I have never been in favour of them. That is not what satisfied me. What I was content with was the way that my query was investigated and I was satisfied that the organisation of which I had raised questions had done nothing improper. However, I would much rather any body which deals with public funds be democratically elected and accountable.

I was simply pointing out that the Board states its right to exist because it alleges to have brought £14m of investment in to the city. That is not a new claim as I've read it several times on here. Therefore, instead of asking this newspaper to do the digging, as a concerned citizen who has raised a perfectly justifiable question, you do it. Surely your public spirited worries are not dictated by a reporter or the latest headline are they?
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barnfarm,

28/08/2008 14:05:51
Bearing in mind that you clearly have time to research your OWN news, PrestonOne, I am curious as to why you are here at all. Me, I pick up news from the LEP site in what few gaps my job allows. As, I suspect, do most posters here. Too busy to chase these things up themselves, I expect. Which is sort of why news organisations exist. Anyhow, here's your chance to save the reporters a job - where HAS that £14m gone?
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ThePrestonOne,

Preston 28/08/2008 14:13:43
Fair enough. I was simply pointing out that I had concerns about a project and how I had gone about resolving the query.

As for the £14m in question, I haven't a clue as to where it has gone but I'm sure that if you copy and paste your question at Post 1 to the Council's chief executive you'll get a response and perhaps that is what you could/should have done in the first place. As I say, I admire your sense of public spirit.
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barnfarm,

28/08/2008 14:58:58
And I admire your ironic admiration. My only point was that it is simply glib for Carr to say yeah, they pulled in £14m - without giving even the briefest details of where it went. How much went on consultants? Feasibility studies? Setting up and financing the Vision Board itself? I could, as you say, probably get these answers for myself. But far better to have a member of the fourth estate do it and then place that information in the public domain, readily available to all.
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WhiteKnight,

28/08/2008 15:05:58
Rumour has it Frank McKenna - head of dubious 'business networking club' (with uncomfortably close links to the NWDA) - Downtown Preston is after this position. You might also remember him from the election expenses scandal which led to him losing his position as Deputy Leader of Lancashire County Council a few years ago. Everyone could rest safely with his appointment then...
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barnfarm,

28/08/2008 15:19:13
All good pals and jolly good company, eh WK?
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WhiteKnight,

28/08/2008 15:22:00
And all with links to the great and good of the business community, but with no links to the people who actually live in Preston. I'd like to know how many of the people on the Vision Board live within a 5-mile radius of the city centre...
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