The South West RDA (South West England's Regional Development Agency) leads the development of a sustainable economy, investing to unlock the region's business potential It is helping companies respond to the economic crisis and charts a course for recovery. The RDA is developing or expanding initiatives which include: a Business Loan Fund; coordinating the response to large companies in difficulty; preparing for economic recovery.

Areas the South West RDA covers

The South West RDA covers the following areas:

• Dorset (including Bournemouth and Poole)
• Devon (including Plymouth and Torbay)
• Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
• Somerset
• The West of England (including Bristol and Bath)
• Gloucestershire
• Wiltshire and Swindon

The head office is in Exeter city centre, with other offices in Bristol, Plymouth and Truro (Cornwall).

Regional Economic Strategy

Each of England's 9 RDA's is required to work with partners in the region to draw together a Regional Economic Strategy. [336850] This document sets out for the whole region how the RDAs statutory objectives would be met and the region developed. These strategies are owned by the whole region, not just the RDA. They provide the context for other economic development and regeneration activity in the region and provide government departments with a framework that sets out the direction that policies in the South West should support.

The South West RDA's plans are aligned with three strategic objectives:

• Successful and competitive businesses
• Strong and inclusive communities
• An effective and confident region

Projects

In the North Devon town of Ilfracombe, the agency is working with The Ilfracombe & District Community Alliance and North Devon District Council formulating detailed plans for the town's economic and physical structures. Proposed key developments include; enhancement of the harbour; implementation of a light vehicle and foot passenger ferry service to Swansea - a Welsh city which is only twenty one miles away across the Bristol Channel; the re-development of the derelict bus station site; and creation of better youth support and recreation facilities on the Eastern side of the harbour area.

The RDA also supports the Grant for Research and Development , which helps comapnies create new products.

The RDA has also invested in Exeter Science Park and the Eden Project.

Positive impact of the South West RDA

Figures released in 2009 showed that the RDA had:

• Helped over 100,000 businesses through Business Links;
• Created or safe-guarded over 4,600 jobs;
• Attracted over £68m of private sector investment into the region;
• Re-generated over 100 hectares of brownfield land.

Criticism of the South West RDA

Critics of the South West Regional Assembly and the South West RDA say they are unelected, unrepresentative and unaccountable "quangos", and the area covered is an artificially imposed large region and not natural. However, this argument is equally true of Local Authority administrative boundaries, that rarely reflect true economic flows such as Travel to Work patterns, housing markets, or flows of trade and goods. This opinion is based upon geography, arguing that having the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall in the same region as Gloucestershire would be comparable to linking London with Yorkshire., which whilst on the face of it is ludricous, would actually quite fairly map some economic flows of goods and resources. The feeling is strong with some residents of Cornwall, despite that county receiving a disproportionately large amount of RDA funding as match-funding for European Convergence funds. There have been calls for a Cornish Development Agency from Cornish MPs Dan Rogerson and Andrew George along with the Cornish political party Mebyon Kernow. On 19 July 2007 Dan Rogerson welcomed a government announcement that unelected Regional Assemblies are to be scrapped and he asked the government to look again at the case for a locally accountable Cornish Development agency, "in light of the important convergence funding from the EU”. Cornish MP Andrew George said in July 2007 I’m optimistic that the Minister’s announcement will give us the future prospects to build a strong consensus, demonstrate Cornwall’s distinctiveness from the Government zone for the South West and then draw up plans so that we can decide matters for ourselves locally rather than being told by unelected quangos in Bristol and elsewhere.”

Claims that SWRDA should be more publicly accountable

The South West Regional Development Agency has an annual budget of around £160 million and has spent almost £2 million opening offices as far away as Australia and China and has offices or representatives in five international cities. SWRDA admitted in 2008 that it has spent £1,871,829 on international offices and staff since 2005 - these include Boston in the US, Tokyo in Japan, Shenzhen in China, Melbourne in Australia and Mumbai in India. In the 2007-8 financial year, SWRDA also started an operation in Mumbai, which contributed to a total spend of £555,880.43. In March 2008 former Bristol Lord Mayor Peter Abraham criticised the SWRDA for these actions saying that it should be more publicly accountable. The SWRDA was also criticised in December 2007 for spending more than £60,000 of taxpayers' money at a property trade show on the French Riviera, £61,000 on its annual staff conference in Wiltshire, plus £28,279 on another staff meeting last year in Torquay.

Related bodies

The South West Science and Industry Council advises the SWRDA on the effective use of science, technology and creativity.The SWRDA provides funding for the South West Observatory, a not-for-profit organisation which produces key data and facts about the region.

References

1. Business Link
2. Exeter Science Park
3. Mebyon Kernow opposes SWRA
4. Liberal Democrat MP backs Cornish Development Agency
5. Mebyon Kernow says Cornwall needs its own Development Agency
6. Senedh Kernow
7. Dan Rogerson MP - New powers for Cornwall 'In sight'
8. Cornish MP Andrew George asks for a Cornish Regional Development Agency
9. SWRDA should be more publicly accountable

External links

• South West of England Regional Development Agency
• South West of England Regional Development Agency's press and news site.