It was back to school for the chairman of the new Regional Development Agency (RDA) for the East of England, when he visited Borehamwood last week.

Parkside First School in Aycliffe Road was Vincent Watt's first stop on a whirlwind tour of Hertfordshire on Friday.

It was here that the new appointee, currently vice chancellor of the University of East Anglia, met up with members of the Borehamwood Community Partnership (BCP).

Due to become operational on April 1 1999, RDAs will be regional business-led bodies aimed at developing and promoting economic strategies for their areas. They will also play an important role in influencing Government policy.

The aim of the tour, which also took in The Community Shop and Worknet before moving on to St Albans and Stevenage, was to enable Mr Watts to hear the views of Borehamwood residents and community figures.

Stressing the importance of the meeting, Bill Ogley, chief executive of Hertfordshire County Council, said: "The partnership is doing well and meeting the needs of the people in Borehamwood and that's why the chairman of the RDA came here. The BCP is a good thing and his visit is recognition of it."

Having recently secured a large grant though the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB), representatives of the partnership spoke proudly of their work.

Jon O'Connor, head teacher of Parkside and chairman of the BCP, explained that the partnership was set to up to bring a range of people from diverse backgrounds together to work on improving the community as a whole.

He said: "It's holistic. If you want to give kids a future and a real chance in education you've got to take away some of the issues that are stopping them learning. Until you give the family support for the domestic crisis or the financial problems, the kid cannot handle a full day's work and in turn will have difficulties later on."

But Mr Watts acknowledges that each area has specific needs. He said: "I am aware that parts of the county may identify more with London than the East of England especially as many people live in Hertfordshire and work in the capital. However I am keen that the Agency gets involved in every part of the region and shows what benefits it can bring to the people of Hertfordshire."

Impressed by what he'd seen, Mr Watts said: "I've spent some time in Norfolk and Suffolk and one of the views that came through very strongly is that the children have low aspirations in terms of what they want to achieve. This is exactly the sort of thing that may help in raising them, which is essential for economic development.

"These community-based programmes are enormously powerful at changing things. There are always issues where you have jobs available next door to areas of unemployment, and these problems can really only be solved by individuals."

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