Get the priorities right (From Oxford Mail)

Get the priorities right

10:00am Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Letters

I welcome the positive coverage you have given to the first draft of a masterplan for Bicester but I need to challenge the priorities (Oxford Mail, January 26).

They were “education, sports and health facilities and a resolution to traffic congestion”.

While I don’t dispute their importance, their common feature is that they are all publicly-funded services and investment is heavily dependent on economic recovery.

The glaring omission in the list is supporting local economic growth.

Economic recovery has to be private sector-led and Bicester is crying out for a better local job offer to reduce the out-migration to which you refer.

Central and local government cannot directly create employment opportunities but they can create the environment and regulatory regime that encourages innovative business growth.

I have a four-point plan: l We have Oxford University just down the road in Oxford and Begbroke. We need to attract university spin-out companies to Bicester l We have a regional airport at Kidlington that could fly in Arab, Indian and Chinese business people to consider setting up businesses in Bicester l Bicester’s industrial estates are largely bits of land with elderly sheds sitting on them. We need to level many of them and replace them with modern sites l We need to raise Bicester’s collective ambition and skills to be able to meet this brave new world.

I recognise that these are huge asks but Bicester is ideally placed in England and has the potential to become a local high-value jobs destination, rather than one based around low-level skills or out-commuting.

Public services have a role to play but there is also an issue of local leadership to promote Bicester as a desirable destination and to remove the barriers to economic growth.

KEITH R MITCHELL Leader of the Council Oxfordshire County Council New Road Oxford