ADVANTAGE West Midlands is to axe almost £35m from various infrastructure projects and services across the region.
The regional development agency said the cutbacks had had to be made after the Government ordered it to reduce spending.
The agency said that as a result of the in-year budget cuts and the subsequent Government announcement that RDAs were to be scrapped, it had had to cancel its forward programme of pre-legal pipeline projects.
In all, 121 projects have either had their funding reduced or axed altogether. The savings range from a £5.2m cut in funding to Business Link West Midlands (BLWM) to a £347 saving on the restoration of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Despite the massive cutback at BLWM, the advice service will still receive more than £16m. AWM’s other crown jewel – the Manufacturing Advisory Service – sees its budget trimmed by a more modest £800,000, although that still represents a significant proportion of its original £4.14m allocation.
The redevelopment of West Bromwich town centre has also been dealt a major blow with a combined reduction in funding of £7.4m – hitting land acquisition plans in All Saints and the development of the BT Liberata building.
The £4.2m scheme to build a new headquarters for the national Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire has been scrapped, while the Bilston Urban Village scheme has had £1m stripped from its budget.
A £1m contribution to the redevelopment of Edgbaston Cricket Ground has also been cut although the new pavilion will be completed.
The Advantage Growth Equity Fund, known as Exceed, which provides investment for high growth potential SMEs has had its entire £1.15m funding cut. In addition, contributions to the CWRT, BCRS, ARROW and ART loan funds have all been scaled down.
The £5.7m project for the acquisition and servicing of Ansty Park has had its funding reduced by £1.5m.
Difficult decisions
Mick Laverty, AWM chief executive, said: “The collective efforts of our staff and partners have delivered all the savings the Government asked of us.
“The scale and pace of the cuts required meant that inevitably some difficult and unpopular decisions had to be made.
“Our joint focus has always been to safeguard priority projects – the ones that create most jobs and the greatest growth and support the most competitive businesses across the West Midlands.”
He said the agency was doing its utmost to ensure a smooth transition to the new Local Enterprise Partnerships, which are set to replace the RDAs after March 2012.
In addition to the £34.8m cutbacks, the agency has also saved an additional £2.3m because of lower than expected take-up of business grant offers.
AWM said it still had a budget of approximately £250m for 2010-11 – and its investment this year alone was expected to generate more than £2bn in economic benefits for businesses in the West Midlands.
