ABSTRACT
North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC) became a unitary authority on 1 April 1996. NELC is the biggest single employer in the area, with around 7,000 staff. North East Lincolnshire (NEL) has experienced severe economic decline, especially in the fishing industry which, since the 1970s, has disappeared. The mainstays of NEL's economy are the food, chemicals and port industries employing respectively 12%, 5% and up to 50% of the workforce. Within the overall culture of pessimism and uncertainty in North East Lincolnshire, economic globalisation was viewed as threatening, but offering some opportunities. The evidence suggests that productive capital is relatively 'immobile' in North East Lincolnshire and that major companies rely to an extent on local labour, supplies and markets. The case of North East Lincolnshire differs from the several cases in that it has no strategy encompassing all facets of the regeneration agenda, and no flagship partnership claiming to provide a holistic approach to the development and implementation of regeneration policy.
