In a “groundbreaking” move, Scotland’s leading mining charity has joined the battle to help communities cope with the devastating fallout from the closure of Longannet.
The Scottish Government refused to fund the £9 million the taskforce believed was needed for an economic recovery package when the power station closed in March.
But now the Coalfields Regeneration Trust has launched its own Coalfields Longannet initiative, which will work with the taskforce and Fife Council to try to cushion the blow.
The demise of the Fife plant wiped out 230 direct jobs and an estimated 1,000 indirect jobs at a cost of £50m a year to the local economy.
The trust has already helped seven villages in Fife and Clackmannan devise five-year community action plans to secure a better future for their area through its Coalfields Community Futures programme.
Now the trust will use its skills to reach out to local people, small businesses and traders to give them a real say in what they want from the taskforce.
It has hired Gary Porter, an employment and skills training specialist who has worked in some of Glasgow’s worst employment blackspots, to lead the regeneration programmes.
It has also organised a conference on July 28 to let community representatives decide local priorities.
Bob Young, the Scottish trustee of the organisation, said: “We are taking this step because we are ideally placed to make a real difference to the work of the taskforce.
“We know the area and issues, we have the confidence of the local communities, and experience of helping them decide what they want for their areas.
“All too often community consultation exercises over closures like this can become talking shops but we won’t let that happen to Longannet.”
Fellow trustee Nicky Wilson added the trust’s programme has been a huge success, and now they wanted to find a way to make it work on a wider scale.
“It’s a huge challenge but one we are confident we can meet head on, by empowering local communities, and creating a model for maximising local input for similar taskforce interventions in the future.”
The trust’s chief executive Gary Ellis said: “This is a groundbreaking intervention by our staff in Scotland and a tangible demonstration of how the Coalfields Regeneration Trust has become proactive in devising and delivering imaginative and effective economic and social regeneration in former mining communities.”
Mr Porter saw the initiative “as the glue that binds all the other parties together”.
Fife Council leader David Ross, who co-chairs the taskforce, looked forward to working together to develop a community-led regeneration response to the challenges faced.
