Whenever I start to feel a bit jaded, I head for the Valleys. You can always get a bit of inspiration and conversation there.
Last time out, I started with breakfast in Ebbw Vale’s Crossing Café. “I hope you don’t mind me asking,” said the waitress. “But we were wondering if you were the Real Radio Renegade?”
No doubt I stood out because on a busy market day, I was just about the only man in town with a suit on.
That’s maybe a sign of something less good. Not the lack of formal clothing, but the lack of the kinds of people that wear them. There are not many corporate headquarters in the Valleys, not many pofessional advisers, not many decision makers, not many middle managers even, unless you include the council.
That in turn reinforces the idea among decision makers that the Valleys are “different”, which then becomes a “problem”. And if you look at the latest statistics on unemployment, where the top spots have just been taken by the Valleys council area plus Newport, it’s hard to deny that improvements are needed.
That may come in the form of regeneration – a massive project, The Works, is under way in Ebbw Vale right now. It has some interesting features – for example there will be no retail offering on site, save for neighbourhood shops. That is to avoid sucking yet more life out of a town centre which has already been bled by two big supermarkets. Hopefully the partners involved can stick to their guns, given the tough conditions affecting regeneration projects that we report on in Insider this month.
But you need people as well as buildings. Ideally, you need entrepreneurs who will grow their companies and take on more people. There are a couple of examples of Valleys entrepreneurs in our Rising Stars feature, such as Rachel Bedgood of Complete Background Screening in Ynysybwl. The future of the area will ultimately rest with "renegrades" like them.
Douglas Friedli, editor
Also in: July/August
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Interview: Peter Griffiths
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