Last updated 05:13, Friday, 14 November 2008

Credit crunch. The words have hammered down hard and often, stifling spending and making a bad situation worse.

Thankfully there are still business people with the resources, expertise and confidence to ride the waves and look ahead to a brighter future, while doing much to create it.

Brian Scowcroft and his colleagues at Kingmoor Park are a fine example of the breed. While much of the business world fears the worst it’s full steam ahead for Scowcroft’s team.

They have already helped to create 1,500 jobs at Kingmoor Park since it opened in 1999. The blueprint for the next 20 years is even more ambitious:a £50m expansion plan of offices and warehouses which could create another 3,500 jobs and make this industrial estate on Carlisle’s northern outskirts one of the largest in the north west.

The potential pitfalls of planning such a major project right now have been documented to death. The credit crunch has already caused further delay to the Carlisle Northern Development Route, which would serve Kingmoor Park.

But credit crunch and threat of recession are proving no deterrent here. Kingmoor Park chief executive Tony Goddard says: “It’s a long-term development that will ride through the ups and downs of the economic cycle”. His words should be music to the ears of everyone feeling the painful effects of the City chasing a fast buck and looking no further than its next bonus payment.

Cumbria has plenty of business people who balance ambition with a responsibility to their home county and its people. Now more than ever, these entrepreneurs and the country at large need banks and politicians to support initiative.

Permission for a hotel, restaurants and shops at Kingmoor Park has already been granted. A planning application for Brian Scowcroft’s proposed expansion will be lodged soon.

It is difficult to find fault with Tony Goddard’s assessment: “a fantastic opportunity”.