#ViewsOnComms: public relations, places and life in the South West
I’ve been with the BBC in Bath today, who have covered a major announcement about the Homes and Communities Agency’s investment in one of the South West’s most important regeneration projects.
My colleague David Warburton was joined by Bath and North East Somerset Council leader Francine Haeberling and director John Betty for morning interviews with broadcast crews outside the Bath Western Riverside development.
Congratulations to HCA colleagues and the South West team at St Modwen for finalising the development agreement that allows work to start at Locking Parklands, near Weston-super-Mare.
The crucial deal unlocks development of the first 100 homes on the former RAF Locking site, which has been dormant for the best part of a decade.
The history of the huge site and the efforts put in by partners to regenerate it is well documented, from its closure as an airbase in 2002 to the HCA’s recent announcement of a £2.5m investment in the delivery of the first homes on the site. It’s great to hear that work is about to start.
It’s also heartening that this latest development has generated plenty of positive media coverage, with national trade titles and regional broadcasters picking up the story yesterday. Twitter was also all a flutter with the news, with corporate feeds syndicating the announcement to their followers. This is well deserved recognition for the work that’s been put in.
It certainly won’t be the last time Locking Parklands hits the headlines either.
If the media rage is to be believed today, our hopes of rebuilding the economy (and possibly win a football tournament) are up in smoke thanks to FIFA’s decision to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia.
There’s no doubt that hosting the tournament would have delivered a huge economic boost to England and the South West, where Bristol and Plymouth were candidate host cities.
Regional media in both cities dutifully voiced civic leaders’ disappointment at the result, whose hopes for a share of the spoils from the world’s biggest spectator event were dashed.