Newtown sends SOS

Newtown Mayor, Joy Jones (pictured right at the www.mynewtown.co.uk launch today), has issued an impassioned SOS to the Welsh Assembly to help lift the economic gloom that is hanging over the town.

Councillor Jones fears Newtown’s bleak forecast draws a startling comparison to her native North East in the 1980’s, when she witnessed queues of up to 500 people trying for a single job. And unless there is a significant investment from the Welsh Assembly, she is worried that Newtown will become a forgotten town.

“I am very concerned and the people of Newtown are very concerned,” she told mynewtown. “I speak to a lot of residents, from teenagers looking for their first job to those in their 50’s and 60’s and they are all saying the same thing that the jobs have dried up and they are struggling to get employment.”

Last week Siemens announced 40 jobs would go, ending a black year for jobs in Newtown which also saw Shop Direct (Kays) announce their plans to close with the loss of 180 jobs. The mayor is understandably anxious.

“I was brought up in North Yorkshire and moved to Newtown to live with my grandparents 26 years ago because it was the same situation there at that time. The jobs had gone. Businesses were closing and not being replaced. As soon as word got out about a job there would be 500 people queuing for hours to try and get it. I came to Newtown which was a prosperous town then with plenty of jobs and I got one straight away. There were a lot of factories and big companies in the town and people were coming from everywhere to work here. It received huge support then from the Development Board for Rural Wales and the whole area benefited.

“I am afraid that unless the Welsh Assembly urgently looks at Newtown then we have some very difficult times ahead. We need resources, money and support. We are feeling like the forgotten people. We know there are hard times and cuts are being made everywhere but Newtown needs investment.”

She is also worried that the lack of jobs will result in a ‘brain drain’ from the town with young talented professionals being forced to leave the area in search of work.

“Why should someone born and raised in the town have to leave?” she asked. “It is a wonderful place to live with a low crime rate. Many want to raise their own families in the town so it would be a shame if people had to leave because of a lack of work.”

On a positive note for Newtown residents, Cllr. Jones added that her former town of Northallerton came out of its 1980’s hardships a much stronger town which was thriving into the 1990’s.

“I hope that together we can pull through this and become a stronger town. These are some very tough times but the people of Newtown are resilient. It is hard to see the positives at the moment, and it is the same in a lot of towns, but I am really hopeful we will bounce back as a town with the right support.”