Last updated 10:20, Friday, 07 March 2008

THERE should be nods of agreement all round after Cumbria Vision boss Richard Greenwood’s warning that aspirations must be dramatically raised if this county is to flourish.

Mr Greenwood, head of the county’s regeneration body, certainly strikes a chord when he speaks of the county’s lack of business risk taking, its inadequate health care and its “strange” acceptance of low wages.

His agency’s Cumbria Economic Plan, which aims to make the county the fastest growing economy in England, is a welcome blast of reality.

We’re fully behind his call for a transformation of the county’s infrastructure.

It is strident stuff, though hardly visionary as most of it has been said by others before.

But Mr Greenwood does put meat on the bones of the argument.

Again, it might seem a statement of the obvious, but he is right to highlight a growing need for builders, plumbers, IT workers and manufacturing workers.

He is right to say that Cumbria’s scenery alone won’t attract new businesses if there are no skills and few housing options here.

Before the sceptics shoot him down, they need to take a long, hard look at themselves and accept that many of Cumbria’s failings are due to the low horizons they’ve set.

A criticism of new ideas, regeneration policy and “change” in general has become a knockabout game for some people.

It is about time they stopped knocking so-and-so for “getting too big for his boots” or mocking those people who enjoy the trappings of success; it is time for chips to be taken off a few shoulders.

Thankfully, this newspaper’s pages also contain many positive stories about young people setting up in business and aiming high; we do have people bursting with ideas and enthusiasm.

But more encouragement is certainly needed if Mr Greenwood’s vision of an economically vibrant Cumbria stands a chance.