'Grow Our Own 2 - Regeneration'

Here it is, at least an artists impression of it.
It's as iconic as the still two thirds empty Emlyn Hughes building on Abbey road but at least this one is going to be hidden away within the surrounding business park. Sadly for Channel side Walneyites they will be able to see it but at least it should look better than the existing from their view point.

It's costing an absolute fortune in excess of £35 million pounds and is replacing buildings that are just 17 years old and are no longer fit for purpose. Try as I might I have been unable to find out how much it cost to put these now doomed modern buildings up but no matter how much they cost they were obviously a waste of money given their short lifespan.
Still it's only the taxpayer who pays for these sorts of things and they are so good at handing over their taxes so there is no shortage of moolah to blow on such short termism.

So what is Grow Our Own 2-Regeneration ?

Well at first I though it was an allotment initiative from the Evening Mail seen as how it has it's nattily named clickin2 range of websites that no-one ever seems to use but no it was a beano for 'invited guests' to celebrate with heads of quangos who are channelling taxpayer funding into the college.
About the only good thing about it was the fact that the colleges catering students got some hands on experience by creating a three course meal for the assembled guests.
Of course the long suffering taxpayers footed the bill for the beano but no matter it was well received by the invited dignitaries.

Here is the Mails coverage of the event tastefully annotated in purple.

Furness College's iconic new building project, which was one of just 14 colleges to get funding from the Learning and Skills Council, is due to start at the end of the month. 

Speaking at the college's 'Grow Our Own 2 - Regeneration' celebration on Wednesday, Bob Pointing, programme director of Barrow Regeneration, said: "I think the Learning and Skill Council's decision is probably the most the important thing to happen in Barrow for three years."
Wow it's even more important than BAE building Astute, BAE getting a few more subs to build and it is way more important than the Academy coming into being. Mr Pointing is head of a government quango and he is a serial regenerator so is expert at regenerating himself in a new role with another regeneration quango when his contract ends. West Lakes Renaissance should have been absorbed into Cumbria Vision but Mr Pointing argued for its continued existence and won so all it had to do was change it's name to Barrow Regeneration. Missed a trick there as it should have been called Furness Regeneration as we shall see. Read on.

Mr Pointing said education transforms lives, and he was pleased the LSC recognised the Channelside college's role in the regeneration of the town.
He said: "The college is very much involved in regeneration for Barrow, I would even say it is central to that."
Not that he will ever explain WHY it is central to regeneration. Problem as I see it is simple. No matter how great the college is at educating people once educated these people have to leave the area to find the work that pays a wage consummate with their level of education. Unless the county can attract companies that need these sorts of people then the 'brain drain' will carry on and will in fact speed up.
Especially if you buy Mrs Attwood's flawed argument that the Academy is necessary to address falling school rolls. If this really is true then it follows that the college will have far fewer students in the coming years so why does it need to re-invent itself?

Mr Pointing said the college had looked at its courses to give more training opportunities in sectors such as construction to meet the needs of regeneration projects like the £200m Waterfront masterplan, which will include 650 homes, a business park, cruise terminal, leisure facilities, nature reserve. Furness College's landmark new four-storey building will replace a series of metal workshops. Contractor Eric Wright Construction Ltd is moving on to the campus at the end of the month.
And where do all these newly trained contractors go when the waterfront masterplan is finished considering the fact that the construction industry has contracted in size month after month throughout 2009?

The LSC is contributing £32m, while the University of Cumbria will have a presence on the site through £3.5m from the Northwest Regional Development Agency.
So a University that is in debt and therefore broke is getting new facilities courtesy of a government quango simply because this quango and ergo the government believes that a university is essential to keep the young in Cumbria for longer.

Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the Northwest Regional Development Agency, said he was delighted 14 of the five colleges to receive LSC funding are in the North West.
Mr Broomhead is the head of a yet another government quango. There are so many of them it's unreal. David Cameron is going to make a lot of them redundant if he comes to power, allegedly. Lets hope that this is one promise he carries through, assuming he gets into Downing Street in May 2010.

He said: "They made a very sane and sensible decision by voting to give Furness College a new capital build. A greater thing could not have happened for the economy of the area."
He said he now wants to see more from the University of Cumbria about the way it is going to work at the college.
Good grief he is going to try and talk with Dr Neil Simco who is more elusive than the scarlet pimpernel. Best of luck Mr Broomhead. He was nowhere to be found when Anne, Dave, Moira and Ed were forcing through the Academy.

Mr Broomhead said Barrow has a very strong sense of purpose and is integral to the Energy Coast.
The Energy Coast is another soundbite scheme which is trying to put Cumbria on the map. All it consists of currently is a few dozen on shore wind farms and a few offshore versions along with plans for a brace of nuclear power stations and some madcap scheme to build a bridge across the bay on top of unproven tidal turbines. Not exactly awe inspiring but doubtless it'll drag in some 'government funding' courtesy of the quango population. Sorry to be cynical but this constant re-branding of different geographical parts of Cumbria is a pointless waste of taxpayers money.

Mr Broomhead said: "I see the peninsula has a strong aspiration for prosperity."
What the hell is this man on about?
What is a strong aspiration for prosperity and what exactly is the reason why he has come to this conclusion, if it is a conclusion at all.

Anne Attwood, principal and chief executive of Furness College, said she was proud when MP Phil Woolas, the regional minister for the north west, remarked on the college's important position at the centre of the regeneration of the town during his visit to the college in September.
She must be about the only person in the country who thinks Mr Woolas has the slightest clue what he spouts on about. Just recently Mr Woolas said: 'If this country and others were to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban were able to take control of Afghanistan our evidence is that the number of asylum seekers coming to the EU would significantly increase". The man is obviously an 'eejit'

Mrs Attwood said the college aims to be proactive in the social and economic regeneration of Furness, and be a hub for education and training in Furness.
What does she mean by being 'proactive' and social regeneration?
She came out with exact same argument to justify the Academy coming into existence. Some women recycle catwalk dresses Mrs Attwood obviously recycles her inane statements. It's worth pointing out that this lady doesn't actually live in Barrow, she doesn't actually live in Furness she commutes twice a day to and from the lovely South Lakeland village of Levens!

The event also saw the launch of Furness Training, a re-branding of Skills for Business.
I've never heard of Skills For Business and why is it being re-branded Furness Training?
Oh silly me it's yet another line blurring exercise. Furness Academy, Furness College, Furness Training all one and the same but with three different names it has three times the chances of attracting funding!

Guests enjoyed a three-course meal prepared and served by the college's catering and hospitality students.

Link

UPDATE 11-00 am 11-11-09
Dr Simco has indeed left the building and is now working in Bonnies Scotland as K. Johnsons states. Link

Dean of Faculty of Business and Leisure

As Dean of Faculty, Dr Simco holds strategic responsibility for the development of the faculty's academic business. This responsibility is discharged in collaboration with academic partners. The faculty's academic business focuses on the academic portfolio of the faculty, approaches to learning and teaching and research and scholarship.

Dr Simco was formerly the dean of education and dean for research at the University of Cumbria, and prior to that worked from 1996 at the former St Martin's College, which became part of the new University of Cumbria two years ago.