Agency has done a vital job for us

May 24 2010 by Kevin Rowan, The Journal

THE apparent concession to regional economic organisations in the coalition Government agreement published last week is clearly to be welcomed here in the North East. Secretary of State for Communities, Eric Pickles, talked large about his total determination to abolish regional development agencies (RDAs) without hesitation.

The detail of the potential for a complete U-turn in this approach is quite a radical change in that view.

The Conservatives had maintained the need for a partnership between local authorities and business, recognising the need for meaningful engagement between the business community and the public sector.

The coalition went much further than this, pledging that where there is support from local government and the business community, this partnership could be achieved by maintaining existing RDAs.

This dramatic policy shift has been rightly welcomed in the North East, where local government and business have already expressed a desire to keep One NorthEast in play.

The overriding argument for maintaining a regional body here is the very strong need for it combined with the fact that the performance of the RDA has been so strong.

The North East remains challenged by scale. While the 12 local authorities are working well together, the region is small and there is a collective understanding that we can achieve more by working together.

The RDA has been effective in coordinating public spending to maximise the ‘bang’ for our ‘buck’.

Without the RDA we wouldn’t have secured the massive JEREMIE funding programme, being actively copied in other regions, providing a scale of investment capital unachievable without the RDA.

We would not be talking about the benefits of new businesses emerging out of the Corus crisis without RDA-led investment.

Without the RDA the region would not be anywhere near as well-placed as it is to maximise the benefits of the low-carbon, new industries agenda.

But so far, it’s just a pledge for maintaining the institution. Collectively we need to turn that into a reality and the TUC is hugely supportive of that ambition. We need to maintain funding levels too.

Vince Cable has already announced massive budget cuts for other development agencies and the North East is braced for today’s cuts announcements.

RDAs have proved to be great value for money and their impact on recovery from recession should not be lost in blunt public spending cuts.

Kevin Rowan, Regional Secretary Northern TUC