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9:37 am, October 8, 2009
Risk of ‘suspicion and rivalry’ if NWDA goes, warns Collinson

The achievements of the Northwest Regional Development Agency must not be lost if it is abolished by an incoming Conservative government.

That is the argument being put forward by Len Collinson, a Swinton-based management consultant and leader of Private Sector Partners, which represents 24 professional institutions and trade associations in the region and speaks for more than 140,000 firms.

In a news release, Collinson said the NWDA had “worked diligently at building credibility with businesses” and had set out a clear strategic vision.

“The North West performs better working together rather than as talented individual areas,” he said. “The team approach, brought together through the NWDA, ultimately serves the interests of the Region most evenly.

“There is much talk of allowing councils or city regions to take over the job of the NWDA. This risks creating suspicion and rivalry in place of co-operation for mutual interests. The NWDA listens well to businesses and has worked effectively as the government’s custodian of plans, performances and projects. Of course, there can be proper arguments about organisational structure.”

Referring to a study of the NWDA’s performance, carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers and commissioned by the Department for Business, Collinson added: “All of us in businesses should be aware that every £1 invested in NWDA has an average return of £5.20 in gross added value.”

Collinson said the NWDA had provided £23m of financial support to businesses through grants and loan schemes and had brokered discussions with the banks at senior level to unlock funding.

Projects where it had played an important role included MediaCityUK, the Manufacturing Advisory Service and Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus, he added.

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