Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Let’s put Airdrie in the spotlight
Elton John is coming to Airdrie. That’s great news for all his fans – and for Airdrie.
Since this is his first-ever gig in Lanarkshire, he’s picked the right place to come.
I am sure everyone who goes to hear him – hopefully including myself – will have a great time.
Using the Airdrie football stadium to host a huge concert like this shows that with a bit of imagination and drive we can put Airdrie on the map.
The massive media coverage which Elton will enjoy will rub off on Airdrie.
We need to do much more to make use of the huge assets which Airdrie has, like the football stadium.
Little or no effort is being made by either the council or the likes of Scottish Enterprise to promote Airdrie to new businesses.
Yet we are located in an ideal spot. When the current upgrade of the M8 and M73 is completed Airdrie will be at the heart of Scotland.
Access to the east, west, north and south by road will be second to none. All kinds of businesses could flourish in and around Airdrie.
Biocity at Chapelhall is a classic example. It now hosts many new, young companies with cutting-edge technology in life sciences, marketing their wares from there to the rest of the world and employing hundreds of people.
The successful campaign to get the Scottish Government to designate this area an enterprise zone for life sciences is beginning to pay off in spades.
But to get many more of these growing businesses to come to Airdrie we need to market the town to all and sundry.
We also need to upgrade the town centre to make it much more attractive to potential investors.
Existing bodies aren’t delivering the goods for Airdrie. In particular the council, which should be leading on economic development, is failing the people of Airdrie.
We need a step change to get things moving.
Along with my colleague Neil Gray MP I am planning to organise a conference of key stakeholders in Airdrie to discuss how we can take matters in hand and set up a local body to promote Airdrie as a place to do business, to invest in and to develop.
It’s clear that if we don’t help ourselves then nobody else is going to do it for us.
All kinds of businesses could flourish here