I T WASN'T SO long ago that unemployment at 30% gnawed at North Devon's economy and many of our children expected to leave North Devon in search of work.

Hotels and B&Bs stood neglected, decorated only by For Sale signs. You could often find our beaches deserted and the towns shabby and down at heel. Then, within a couple of decades the jobless total had shrunk to an extraordinary 3%, and business was relatively booming.

Today we read that we live in a part of Britain damaged less by the recession than elsewhere. We have fewer people out of work than the national average. We may struggle with the lowest wages in the country, but North Devon still manages an air of well-being, if not riches. You can't move at the seaside even in winter for the young and upwardly mobile surfers and their families from far off towns and cities. And our shops are still busy despite the dire straits of the nation.

So how did it happen? As we look at the year ahead and try to plan a future for the current generation of school leavers I want to reflect on how this amazing transformation took place, to examine the changes since those bad old days and work out how we can learn from them. Well, it may surprise us to remember how hard-fought those changes were.

For example almost certainly top of the list was the construction of the A361 link road to the M5. I remember being at the public inquiry into whether such a road should be dug through the farmland fringes of Exmoor. I reported the deep conviction of many who didn't want the new road, or certainly didn't want it on the line proposed. They, lest we forget, must have been prepared to suffer forever those tortuous car journeys on the old road out of Barnstaple through the bottlenecks of Swimbridge, South Molton, Tiverton or Bampton to reach the main transport network. Those trips weren't the gentle outings we take for granted now. They were treks up hill and down dale on pitted roads behind the choking exhausts of endless lorries — odysseys that required careful preparation and stoic endurance.

I remember, with some embarrassment, being one of hundreds of people, some from as far away as the south sea island of Tuvalu, who bought a tiny patch of land at Filleigh to help frustrate the compulsory purchase process needed to build the road. It was partly a reporter's ploy to keep in touch with the whole link road story, but was partly because I felt road-building wasn't the right way to improve our transport system. All to no avail, because after months in which the prospect of a new road hung in the balance, it was finally approved and built through the 1980s.

Without it I suspect the almost immediate rise in North Devon's income from distribution, hotel and catering, and property wouldn't have happened. Manufacturing has also grown, particularly in machinery and engineering especially connected with motoring. If the road wasn't built would we have persuaded the government to part with millions to improve our railways instead? I doubt it.

Property prices have soared, particularly by the sea, and trade has expanded. Barnstaple may still be a relatively small town, but has joined the cosmopolitan brigade for shopping, theatre, and taste. We've benefited from more leisure time and the future continues to look promising.

But we mustn't forget how the road and the improvements came. It was down to political pressure. The Conservatives were in power and we had a Tory MP when the road was built. Twenty years later we had the money to build a new downstream bridge in Barnstaple, money North Devon might not have had without strong Lib-Dem members on Devon County Council. And indeed the pressure to build the link road itself was developed during the years of a Liberal MP. What does that tell us about the way in to public finance and power? Well the main lesson is, with a general election round the corner, we must use our vote, and be clever about it.

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AN ADVERT doing the rounds in North Devon suggests, puzzlingly, that I might "Enrol Experience Grow Petroc". Beside the invitation is a picture of a large sunflower.

Even though I guessed this is supposed to be a plug for North Devon College I still had to scratch my head and wonder. And it certainly didn't tempt me to think about an evening course in mechanics, sewing or perhaps History of Art.

Readers of this column will know that among hundreds of people I disliked the change of name for the college last year. This kind of promotion doesn't improve that decision and I'll be interested to see what the impact on enrolments, attendances and reputation has been of the new name.

If it helps to develop the skill base and employment of young North Devonians I'll eat humble pie. If it doesn't then I suggest those responsible say sorry to our youngsters and do something more practical to improve our economy.