ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the effects on Preston of reductions in military spending, and indicates the kind of contribution which local involvement in planning could make to the process of conversion. The Office of Economic Adjustment in the Department of Defence was established to help American communities overcome the consequences of closures of bases, withdrawal of contracts, and other local military cutbacks. Apart from aid and planning from central government, a good deal could be done to minimize the seriousness of the impact, by a local planning body, constituted perhaps from the Trades Council, the local business and community organizations. According to one report a common factor for success has been ‘an all-out commitment from all segments of the community, including labor, business, government’. The strategy should also involve a market survey, involving the requirements of the community, or spreading more widely to the national and international market; here, expert advice can often make a most useful contribution.
