Rooting for Salisbury

My excellent corner shop provides my daily papers, so when I popped in at the end of July I joined the chorus of approval on seeing that most of the serious front pages carried a super photo of the Cathedral from Harnham meadows. Good old Country Life is still the best of the so-called lifestyle magazines - and they had decided that this is 'Britain's Best View'. No surprise there, I hear you say.

But hang on - isn't Salisbury the place we locals love to loathe? Isn't the City 'dying on its feet' (FSB Newsletter)? According to the 'free' (i.e. we pay) Salisbury District Council Newspaper ('The Citizen'), local business numbers have declined, neighbouring economies are more dynamic, and our industrial base is subject to low growth and low added value. Thanks, that really made us feel good about the place.

The South Wiltshire Economic Partnership tells us that their vision-thing means increasing the number of local businesses by 20% and 'a better mix of new housing, especially for professionals, first-time buyers and affordable social housing'. That just about covers the spectrum - so why not just say lots more houses and loads more traffic?

Ah, traffic! Some people talk about the weather but in Salisbury we talk about traffic and parking. Well, it is true that in local polling nearly 90% of people still want a Salisbury bypass. But it is also true that one city-centre business asked its drivers to record time taken from the edge to the centre of Taunton, Bath, Southampton, Poole and elsewhere - and in every case it was quicker to get to the centre of Salisbury - far quicker, just 8 minutes even on Southampton Road.

It is also true that for the first time in years people are saying they can find somewhere to park in town during the day. Ah, some will say, that's because no one comes into Salisbury any more. Really? Oh, and parking charges are so high no one will pay them who hasn't absolutely got to. Well, the fact is (if you'll forgive me) Salisbury has the lowest charges for miles - lower than any nearby comparable city.

I called on a lovely, specialist, independent High Street shop at the request of the owner, to discuss legitimate complaints about factors holding back their growth. They were keen to tell me, very quietly, that business is up 3% so far this year. And the Old George Mall management confirmed the multiple retailers love the strength of the Salisbury economy.

So, what's up? Let me tell you a little secret - which is also a bottom-line killer fact. The House of Commons Library has published the residence-based unemployment rates for May 2002 - and out of 659 constituencies in the UK, Salisbury is 659th, equal with Witney (Oxford), at 0.7%. That's 103 females and 297 males claiming benefit in a constituency population of 106,101. I regret any unemployment - but be thankful we don't live in Birmingham Ladywood, top of the list at 12.6% unemployed - that's 6,290 people (almost exactly the population of Amesbury).

Why do we sell ourselves short? We have a strong and diverse local economy. We are a centre of excellence in science and engineering, education, health, defence, culture and heritage, sport and much more. We are the 'greenest' District in the South. We are at the hub of a great wheel of wonderful village communities, which look to the City for so much. And now we have the Best View in Britain.

So let's start talking Salisbury up. Our Council has taken the fight to the competition by advertising on Bournemouth buses. Please do more - much more - of the same. Let's not be mean, either, - so go for it and buy the finest Christmas lights in the South, while we're at it!

Places like Andover advertise so much because they have to, poor things, or no one would go there. We can beat them (and West Quay) at that game because not only do we have better shops, we are a 'total family experience'. So let's get up off our laurels, shake off any complacency, stop whingeing and reach for the sky.

ROBERT KEY MP