Articles
Notice of more than 220 redundancies being issued at the South East England Development Agency at the end of last month was deemed worthy of barely a mention in the national press. Seeda is just one of many regional development agencies (RDAs) that will close their doors in April 2012 as part of the government’s cutbacks and restructuring within the business support environment.
But Seeda was a particularly proactive RDA, offering a gamut of services including advising on business growth and development, skills support and securing inward investment. PE dealt with Seeda on several occasions and always found it highly professional.
The same can be said for One North East, the RDA that covers North East England. It too has started to close down its business, a process that will eventually lead to 320 redundancies. One North East can lay claim to helping the North East establish itself as a location for the renewable energy industry, with the National Renewable Energy Centre being based in Blyth, Northumberland and Clipper Windpower recently announcing plans to build a turbine assembly plant on the banks of the Tyne.
Many of the roles and responsibilities of the RDAs will be transferred to the new Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), which are in their very formative stages or are still being established. The new enterprise partnerships will address local concerns such as housing, employment and supporting start-ups. The weightier responsibilities of the regional development agencies, things like inward investment, venture capital funds, business support and funding for innovation, will be taken under ministerial stewardship.
The change-over is causing very real concern within the manufacturing and engineering industry. Will the LEPs have anywhere near the funding of the RDAs? Will they be as accessible? Will they be business-led, with entrepreneurial experience on their boards? These are just some of the questions that have been voiced to PE in recent weeks.
There is no doubt that the closure of the RDAs and their replacement with LEPs has created a vacuum of support at a time in the economic cycle when small firms need them most. What we are left with now is a declining service of business support while we wait for the LEPs to find their feet.
Indeed, the rundown of Seeda and One North East raises again concerns that the decision to close the RDAs was made in haste. At the time it smacked of being a political decision, rather than being a well-considered and cogent piece of restructuring that would benefit business as a whole. It felt like the government was keen to be seen to be slashing public spending, and a bunch of quangos with little exposure to the average man in the street provided an easy target. Now reality is setting in – and it doesn’t look or feel good.
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