Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater is the message from ICAEW members in the West Midlands over the future of Advantage West Midlands, the regional development agency.
The regional strategy board, which speaks for the ICAEW in dealings with local authorities, agencies and other business organisations in the West Midlands, supports the need to cut Government spending.
But sweeping away with AWM would not necessarily improve links between the business community and regional policy-makers, said Barry Matthews, chairman of the strategy board.
Mr Matthews has written to Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, arguing that a slimmed-down development agency would be the most effective use of scarce resources.
He said: “We believe the relative decline of the West Midlands over many years means that, in an era of limited resources, this region merits greater public investment than many others.
“We would argue that a slimmed down regional development agency looks like representing the most efficient use of limited resources as far as the West Midlands is concerned.”
Mr Matthews highlighted some of AWM’s successes, including the Advantage Transition Bridge Fund, which offered a lifeline to SMEs in the depths of the credit crunch.
He added: “One of our concerns is that any alternative to AWM is even less likely to respond to the views of the business community. Our experience of local authorities is that they are uncommunicative and unresponsive and we fear the establishment of alternative council-led structures would pay lip-service at best to the business sector.
“While we have reservations about many of AWM’s activities, its abolition would result in something worse taking its place.”
Mr Matthews pointed out: “Among the benefits of a regional agency is its ability to liaise with a range of local authorities, government departments, private sector businesses and others to establish economic development priorities and help to bring them to fruition.
“In the case of, for instance, the redevelopment of Birmingham’s New Street Station, it is fair to say that work would have been delayed or might never have taken place without the intervention of AWM.
“Turf wars between local councils would make similar investments much harder to achieve in future if the agency were not in a position to take a region-wide view.”
Development agencies have been told to save £270 million this year with recruitment and pay freezes and bans on bonuses in future years.
But Mr Cable has said: “We wish to minimise reductions in the support given by RDAs to business in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the West Midlands. We wish to make the biggest cuts in the South and East.”