Life science industry specialist MedilinkWM has expressed concern at Conservative Party plans to abolish regional development agencies (RDAs) such as Advantage West Midlands.
Shadow Business Secretary Kenneth Clarke and Shadow Local Government Minister Caroline Spelman indicated, in a letter to colleagues, that the RDAs would scrapped under a Conservative government and replaced with a series of “local enterprise partnerships”.
The letter said the proposals represented a “new deal” for local regeneration and economic development, with “elected councils and local businesses deciding local economic priorities”.
Tony Davis, CEO of MedilinkWM, commented: “The future of the UK’s Regional Development Agency (RDA) structure remains a topic of great debate in both the public and private sector. If the next government takes the decision to remove RDAs, the problem of how to replace their myriad functions has not been satisfactorily resolved.
“That RDAs have made significant contributions to the economic growth of their regions is accepted wisdom. They have also ensured a fairer distribution of wealth and opportunity across the UK.”
Tony Davis noted that MedilinkWM has used the support of its RDA, Advantage West Midlands, to promote life science businesses in the region by:
• providing business support to companies in the region
• developing a Market Access Guide for companies diversifying into the industry
• hosting a stand at ComPaMED every year (which generated over £1 million in business for eight companies who joined them in 2009)
• launching and operating two ‘assisted living’ demonstrator properties, allowing a wide variety of companies to showcase their products.
“Our question to the next government is,” he concluded, “how will regions compete fairly and maintain dynamic rates of progress without RDAs?”
Tony Davis