Tuesday 17 March 2009

Centralised Britain

Or rather, not centralised!

One of my clients in Edinburgh is registered with Entrust, a government body that deals with landfill sites. The organisation doesn't have or use any such sites but probably did years ago. It doesn't cost anything and all we have to do is send in a "nil" return each year. Perhaps membership may be useful in the future.

Anyway, today we received the annual return together with a letter that says:

I write to you that following a strategic review of its operations, ENTRUST's Board has decided to relocate its offices from Acre House, Sale to Leamington Spa. In reaching this decision, the Board has considered the requirement for ENTRUST to more effectively serve the needs of its stakeholders and has taken into consideration a number of important factors, including:

Allowing ENTRUST to be more centrally located in the United Kingdom to provide an enhanced service to its stakeholders

But they're now less centrally located in the United Kingdom. The mid-point of the island of Great Britain is around Kendal in Cumbria. Including the offshore islands it's in Dumfriesshire. In Sale they were already in the South, now even more so. Private companies can locate wherever they want, but government organisations shouldn't be concentrated in the expensive southeast. No wonder folk up here vote SNP.

1 comment:

David Farrer said...

Comments made on previous template:

David B. Wildgoose
Feel free to move the capital of the (dis)United Kingdom anywhere you like. 
 
It would free up the Palace of Westminster for its traditional role as House of the English Parliament.

26 March 2009, 09:37:02 GMT
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Colin Finlay
But decentralisation is happening now. Cadbury moved its Head Office from W2 way out to Uxbridge, Middx and Diageo Plc intend to move from W1 to NW10.

21 March 2009, 01:33:23 GMT
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David Farrer
I think the weighted centre is Luton, if I remember correctly. But as far as I can tell Entrust operates through the web and the post. Anyway, one of the reasons why Luton is so central is precisely because of so much government activity being centralised in London. We should move the capital of the UK to Glasgow.

20 March 2009, 15:59:20 GMT
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john b
Surely centre weighted by population is the important figure for a customer-facing organisation? 
 
Not sure whether that's closer to Sale or Leamington, but it's certainly closer to either than it is to Dumfries or Kendall.

18 March 2009, 15:34:35 GMT