Duff urges Prescott to take a grip on EU help for East Anglian coast

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 17th Jan 2000

Eastern England's Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Andrew Duff has written to The Rt. Hon. John Prescott MP, Secretary of State for the Regions, to urge him to help the coastal areas of East Anglia to profit from EUfunding.

Mr Duff is campaigning to regenerate the ports and resorts of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.

He wants the three counties to benefit from participation in an EU-funded programme of collaboration with Holland and Flanders. The programme, known as Interreg III, will not be extended by the European Commission to East Anglia unless the UK government decides to support the extension.

After meetings in Brussels on Thursday and Ipswich on Friday of last week, Mr Duff has written urgently to Mr Prescott.

Andrew Duff MEP says:

"There is an exceptionally strong case for extending the maritime borders of Strand A of the Interreg III programme to include East Anglia.

"The projects are in the process of being well-prepared in close collaboration with the Flemish and Dutch authorities. The political will shown by the English county councils and their partners is impressive.

"Mr Prescott is trying to have the whole of Britain covered by the scheme.

"This is nonsense, and he knows as well as I do that the European Commission will never agree to a UK-wide extension of the scheme. Indeed, I have no doubt that it is right to be highly discriminating in developing this EU funded programme.

"East Anglia can make a success of an extension of this programme, while other British regions are in no position to do so.

"All the factors exist to make a success of genuine cross-border activity in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.

"I fear that bureaucratic inertia in the DETR and ministerial indecisiveness will scupper East Anglia's chances to benefit from European Union help in transport, tourism and social policy fields."