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- Healey announces practical support for coalfield communities
Healey announces practical support for coalfield communities
| Published | 13 March 2009 |
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Local Government Minister John Healey has today announced an additional £750,000 cash injection to help provide practical advice to people in coalfield communities on getting through these tough economic times.
The announcement comes in the week of the 25th anniversary of the start of the national miners' strike.
The new funding will go towards a new £1million scheme to be run by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT). It will give families and businesses facing new economic pressures, in historically deprived communities more targeted help on issues ranging from managing debt, getting back to work and avoiding repossession.
The collapse of the coal industry in the 1990s blighted coalfield communities. Over the past decade, the Government has already given over £500m to coalfield communities, to help them recover.
A quarter of the male population in the coalfields lost their jobs, and nearly half of all ex-miners suffered long-term illness or injury. Coalfield areas had only 13 per cent of the country's population but 25 per cent of all derelict land in the UK.
John Healey said:
"Twenty five years ago entire communities were devastated by the collapse of the coal industry and the miners' strike - today these same communities are again being hit hard by the current global economic slump.
"Through the Government's coalfield support, we have invested £1/2 billion over the last decade to make significant progress in helping people retrain and get into work. But once again these communities are facing new challenges, and I am determined that they continue to get the support they need.
"That's why I am announcing a cash injection to provide much-needed help for people in coalfield communities to find new jobs, stay in their homes and manage their way through these difficult times."
Chairman of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust Peter McNestry said:
"The Trust welcomes this additional funding for the English coalfields, which will make a big difference to the thousands of people who are struggling with household finances.
"Demand for free debt advice and money management support is on the increase, and this contribution will enable many services to increase their hours so more people can get help at a time when they need it most."
Each of the five coalfield regions - the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber, East Midlands and West Midlands - will receive £200,000, which will then be allocated to organisations including local Citizens Advice Bureaux, Credit Unions and Law Centres.
The CRT already has considerable experience of doing this - since its launch in 1999 it has provided access to debt advice for nearly 42,000 people.
The Trust has made other significant improvements to coalfield communities in its lifetime, including helping more than 101,000 people onto training and education schemes, getting more than 14,000 people back into work, and building or renovating over 2,000 community facilities.
This is on top of the success of the National Coalfields Programme, which has supported the building of nearly 2,500 new homes, and the reclamation of over 2,000 hectares of brownfield land - often using innovative and sustainable techniques to improve the local environment.
And between them, the Coalfield Regeneration Trust and the National Coalfields Programme have supported the creation of over 19,000 new jobs.
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