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Northwest Regional Development Agency chief executive Steven Broomhead

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9:38 am, November 13, 2009
Drop in Northern Way cash shrinks NWDA funding

By Michael Fahy

The Northwest Regional Development Agency saw its income drop by £10m in the year to March 2009 – largely because income from the Northern Way initiative dried up and sales of assets for development more than halved.

The organisation's income dropped by £10m to £60.6m as all but £265,000 of income from the Northern Way Initiative, which contributed £13m in 2007/08, disappeared. Proceeds from selling development assets also dropped from £3.6m to £9m.

Total spending by the agency also dropped by £10m to £454m, and the agency reported a loss of £28.7m, compared with a gain of £3.5m last year. Some £18.8m of this is due to what the agency described as a “temporary diminution” in he value of its investment in a property partnership with Ashtenne Plc.

It also wrote down £8m in the value of property assets held for development and made a £2.1m actuarial loss on its pension scheme.

The agency said that among its key achievements were safeguarding 26,602 jobs, leveraging in £340m of private sector cash and helping more than 29,000 businesses to improve their performance.

Writing in the notes to the accounts, former chairman Bryan Gray said that the agency's most important role in a harsher economic climate had been in supporting businesses.

"We reacted quickly, announcing a support package for businesses totalling over £200 million. This enabled us to put in place a number of initiatives targeted at ensuring businesses have alternative avenues to finance," he said. " This is something which will continue to be a priority for us in the year ahead."

Accounts show that seven members of its executive management were paid more than £140,000 each, and the pay of chief executive Steven Broomhead increased by 3.2 per cent to £196,942. Gray received £110,455 for his role during the year - a 3.2 per cent increase on the prior year.

Accounts also show that the agency's total wage bill increased by £8m during the year to £40.4m – largely as a result of an increase in headcount. The firm added an average of 44 staff during the year to take its headcount to 303. The agency said that most of these staff were advisors for the new centralised Business Link service which was launched during the year.

COMMENTS? mfahy@crain.com