Economy heads for the rocks

THE unhappy sight of rows of boarded-up shops and buildings is a scourge from which few town centres have escaped since the economic crash.

It is a sorry sign of the times that this most visual emblem of recession has spread like a plague across parts of the UK. Earlier this week, a study revealed that in some areas, one in three shops are now vacant – with Grimsby and Hull among the worst-affected places.

Today, this newspaper’s own investigation reveals the impact upon council-owned property portfolios in the region. Retail units stand empty; workshops and offices unused.

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Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of pounds in rent which local authorities have long relied upon as a valuable source of income has dried up – at the very moment their funding is being slashed by Whitehall.

Clearly, empty buildings are in nobody’s interest. The Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, began a drive last month to encourage local councils to rationalise their assets, demanding they take a “good hard look” at whether the buildings and facilities they own are necessary.

Mr Pickles, as a former leader of Bradford Council, is well aware of the inefficiency and waste that has always plagued local government.

But he should also know full well that many provide an important source of annual income which can be spent on services.

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Simply selling off assets whenever there is an economic downturn is not necessarily a prudent move.

Ultimately, the real problem here is not councils stock-piling properties. It is a flat-lining economy which stubbornly refuses to kick-start, amid growing concerns – made forcefully today by Bradford MP David Ward – that his own party’s coalition government does not care sufficently about the North.

This is a damning charge, and undermines Chancellor George Osborne’s insistence yesterday that his deficit reduction plan is “the rock on which our recovery is built”.

Even the IMF now warns that if the global economy continues to deteriorate, Mr Osborne must be ready to respond. Yet there is no suggestion he would do so.

If the crisis grows and he watches stubbornly on, unmoved, that same rock may prove to be the very one upon which Britain’s slow wave of recovery is ultimately dashed.