The Green Network Partnership recently embarked on a fascinating fact finding study tour of the Dearne Valley area in South Yorkshire, a region scared by the collapse of the coal mining industry in the 1980’s.
Following years of decline and unemployment, Dearne Valley is now reputedly one of Britain’s most successful regeneration initiatives and has helped attract over £200m of private sector investment and create 10,000 jobs in what is Britain’s largest Enterprise Zone.
Members of the Green Network Partnership Board and representatives of several Partner organisations were keen to discover the relationship between this economic achievement, and the strategic restoration of the environment which helped deliver this success.
Visits to projects such as those in the Dearne Valley allow the Green Network team to learn from experience elsewhere and strive to deliver best practice here in Scotland. |
