Last night (Thursday) saw Keith, Sue and Ken at the Longbridge Consultative Group, which is chaired by Keith, and consists of representatives from organisations from around the site of the former MG Rover plant as well as Cllrs from Northfield and the local MP. There is little doubt that St Modwin have done a sterling job in trying to get as much done as possible within the very stringent constraints that they are tied by. There was a concensus of opinion that the process imposed by the Labour Government has resulted in many things taking much longer to process that would have been expected especially when you consider that it is now 3 years since the gates shut on car production. However we now need to move forward and despite the current down turn in the economy we are extremely confident that things will now start to move with more apparent progress. The redevelopment of Longbridge is one of the largest projects in the UK and we need to make sure we get it right. Ken will be doing everything to ensure that companies coming in employ as many local people as possible and we will all be doing our best to make sure that there is a diversity of opportunities available to suit everyone from those that are currently seeking employment to our school and college leavers.
It is also excelllent news that Nanjing and are getting ready to start delivering Longbridge built cars to their dealerships. It will be good to see cars rolling out of the gates again. Its a shame however that Richard Burden and his Labour party refuses to back British Cars. Instead of flying the flag by promoting Midlands based car manufacturers he and his party believe we should all be driving Toyota Prius'.
The coming years will see many exciting changes but we must be patient as it wont happen overnight.
