Last mill standing

Video producer Tara Young of Etsy.com sent me a link to a short documentary that she made on the decline of Burnley's cotton industry, and in particular one of the few surviving textile mills in the area.

As the current issue of our sister title Planning reports, manufacturing and industry in the north of England did well out of the the first round of the Government's £1.4 billion Regional Growth Fund. But the fund’s £1 million minimum bid threshold meant small businesses were not direct applicants, although the first tranche of funding did include £150 million allocated for support for small enterprises. Joe McBride, the managing director of Lancashire Textiles, which employs around 20 people, says that there seems to be little interest in offering the industry in which he works targetted assistance.

"We're really up against it," McBride says. "I can see the company being here as long as I am."

It's a powerful documentary that poses the question: Is Lancashire's traditional economy worth preserving?