First the enda EMDA ... now it's GOEM, GOEM ... GONE!

Hard on the heels of the Con-Dem announcement to scrap the East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) comes news that another target will be the Government Office for the East Midlands (GOEM.)
As we said at the time of the announcement of the enda EMDA, Boston is unlikely to have much of a voice in all of this, but we need to make our presence felt at this early stage in the game with the people that do - to ensure that we are not as so often happens pushed to the bottom of the list.
Whether this is happening or not is unclear.
We learned earlier in the week that initial plans to replace EMDA have already been submitted to the government by Nottingham and Derby city councils, with Lincolnshire and Leicestershire county councils, to form a Local Economic Partnership - which is now the government’s preferred way forward.
Businesses and universities have also signed up to the alliance, which aims to promote economic growth.
Letters were sent to local authorities and businesses inviting them to develop the new partnerships, and organisations signed up to the East Midlands scheme so far include the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce, the Institute of Directors East Midlands, as well as Nottingham, Nottingham Trent and Derby universities - note that there is no mention of Lincoln.
If the proposals are approved, the new partnership will work to secure funding for regeneration projects and encourage economic development.
The government will announce whether the plans have been accepted in September.
What worries us is that none of the information we have discovered so far has come from Lincolnshire.
Obviously Boston doesn’t have a role here because the borough is not a player at this level - although we would like to hear that some sort of lobbying is being done at County Hall to press our case.
But we fear that Lincolnshire - and by extension this much neglected corner known as Boston - is in danger of losing out by virtue of keeping too quiet at a time when we need to shout to get our place at the table.
We seem to have had little to say in what is planned to follow EMDA, and need to speak up as GOEM dies the death before whatever is planned to replace it becomes a fait accompli.


You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com  Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.