Craigavon Borough Council is committed to the attraction of inward investment into the Borough.

  Craigavon is an ideal location for industry, given its location, its accessibility by road, rail and air, its infrastructure, environment and workforce, which has resulted in the area having the largest industrial base in Northern Ireland outside of Belfast. The area has also been designated the third growth centre in Northern Ireland in the Regional Strategic Framework document and proposed as a major centre for future development in the Strategy 2010 document. The Council is keen not only to take up the challenge presented by this opportunity, but also to ensure that those responsible for the various elements of such future development also deliver in terms of further investment in infrastructure, including upgrading of existing roads and provision of a central rail head, in energy provision—eg through provision of a natural gas pipeline servicing the area and of course in terms of industrial development and foreign direct investment.

  The Council itself has been very proactive in the area of enterprise development. It constituted the Greater Craigavon Partnership in 1994 as a local economic forum, which brought the Council and other interests into partnership with local business people and industrialists. A key focus for this group has consistently been the attraction of inward investment to the Borough. The Council allocates a budget to the Partnership for the implementation of agreed actions in the field of economic development.

  The Partnership and the Council maintain close links with the IDB and consistently lobby the Agency on behalf of the Borough.

  Clearly the Council would wish for a much greater level of inward investment to the Borough, with a strong preference for high value, knowledge-based enterprise which can be linked by the new technologies to the global marketplace.

  Craigavon has more available land in IDB ownership than any other District Council area, all in prime locations. The Borough has a number of TSN wards, chiefly in the central area, which require to be addressed.

  Industry, while not located specifically in these areas, adjoins such areas to an extent that it is considered to be able to positively impact on these areas, although agencies active in the TSN areas such as the T & EA and Brownlow Ltd identify accessibility issues such as poor internal public transport linkages, low car ownership etc which compounds acknowledged difficulties in the re-entry to the labour market of the long-term unemployed.

  While Craigavon is an attractive location for inward investment, it has secured only one project in the last decade. This is a matter of great concern to the Council. The situation would be quite serious were it not for the high level of indigenous business growth and the associated high level of IDB grant-aid for businesses in the borough, which has served to lessen criticism of the Agency.

  Local councils do become involved in attempts to attract inward investment and many have made visits in particular to the USA to pursue this. There are few recorded successes resulting from these approaches, which have sat uncomfortably with the IDB, which has in the past viewed this area as its exclusive domain. Craigavon Council has itself engaged in business linkage establishment with areas in Tennessee and with the town of LaGrange in Georgia, USA. In more recent times, there has been an attempt by the IDB to improve contact with district councils, appointing an officer to liaise with Councils.

  This has been a considerable improvement, giving Councils a first point of contact with the agency. For example, during the "11 City Tour", IDB drew upon the already existing contacts of councils in the USA, to considerable effect. The agency is working on an approach to how this could be more formally pursued and how Councils might actively support this in the future. Specifically also, the IDB has created hyper-linkages to Councils' web sites which is an excellent development and gives individual councils a role and a challenge in promoting their own area on the world-wide stage.

  Inward visits is an area of contention for many councils, not least Craigavon. In 1998-99 for example, IDB figures show only 11 visits to Craigavon by potential investors out of a total of 299 throughout Northern Ireland. The figure is similar, averaging some 5 per cent for previous years. The Agency however counters with the response that visitor numbers are small and whilst they encourage an equitable spread of visits, the ultimate decision rests with the investor. The IDB also encourages councils to not lose sight of the role of indigenous company development in job creation and while this is quite proper, and indeed Craigavon has benefited in particular from this aspect, a glance at the role of inward investment in the Republic illustrates the importance of this element in a local economy. The argument that the days of large scale inward investment projects are almost at an end have not held true, even for remote locations in Kerry and Galway.

  Currently the council is undertaking a series of new initiatives which will address issues in the borough which will also impact positively on the efforts to attract inward investment.

  Initiatives underway include work on the draft area plan to create a visionary spatial development process for Craigavon; a wide ranging exercise to create an overriding plan for the Borough, aimed at integrating the many elements which can contribute to its future development; a Marketing Strategy to show the huge potential and opportunities for those who wish to live, work and invest in Craigavon; a new Economic Development Strategy to consider how Craigavon can become a focus for high value added enterprise; a review of our partnership working, to address among other things how we work better with the agencies involved in economic development and in particular the IDB; further liaison with IDB officers in this matter.

  In conclusion, this is a subject very close to the hearts of both the elected members and the wider community in Craigavon. The Council recognises the restraints and parameters within which it must operate, but would greatly value any increased opportunities which could emerge to proactively engage in the business of attracting inward investment to Craigavon.

6 December 1999