NWDA hit with £52m budget cut
THE Northwest Regional Development Agency has had its budget for this year slashed by more than 18% or £52m, the Department for Business has confirmed.
Nationally the RDAs – which are going to be scrapped in favour of Local Enterprise Partnerships – have had £270m of funding cut as part of the Government’s action to cut the budget deficit.
The 18.2% cut – which the NWDA said is “disappointing” and will affect some planned projects in the region, is on a par with the cuts in Yorkshire (18.8%) and the West Midlands (18.6%), but less than those suffered in the East, South East and East Midlands which are all facing cust of around 22%.
Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the North West Development Agency said: “This is obviously disappointing news. Our budget for 2010/11 is already over 90% committed and we will be forced to review some projects and programmes that have already been approved.”
He pledged to work quickly to assess which projects will be affected by the decision.
“Stakeholders and delivery partners involved in affected programmes and projects will be kept fully engaged and informed as specific decisions are made.”
Mr Broomhead added: “Our priority as always is to ensure that the North West’s economic recovery is not damaged.
“We will continue to work closely with Government to deliver its economic objectives and to advocate on behalf of the region for all the resources it needs to come out of this recession in a strong position and to shape the growth of the private sector and wealth in the North West.”
