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Yorkshire Forward chief defends record as abolition fears grow
YORKSHIRE Forward's chief executive yesterday launched a passionate defence of his organisation's record in helping to create jobs as speculation mounts that it will be scrapped if the Tories win the next General Election.
Tom Riordan warned that investment could be sucked into London and the south-East if the regional development agency was abolished.
Mr Riordan said it would be a tragedy if Britain moved away from a "holistic, integrated" approach to regeneration.
He told Yorkshire Forward's annual meeting at the Midland Hotel, Bradford: "We are probably delivering more than we have ever done. I'm less concerned with protecting my job and more concerned with what happens in the region."
Mr Riordan acknowledged that some of the roles carried out by Yorkshire Forward could be done at a sub-regional level, but he argued that getting rid of all types of regional development agency would be a big mistake.
Over the last year, Yorkshire Forward has helped to secure more than 73m of funding in loans for business expansion and training to help firms survive the recession.
The Regional Minister for Yorkshire and Humber, Rosie Winterton, said: "Organisations like Yorkshire Forward have come into their own since the economic downturn. It's economic madness to say the regional agencies should be abolished.
"You can't have a pick and mix with this. If you abolished the regional development agencies, you would have to invent something else to take their place."
At the same meeting Ms Winterton revealed that she had written to Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, in support of plans for a clean coal power station near Doncaster.
A proposal to develop carbon capture and storage at a plant in Hatfield is being considered by the European Commission. Supporters believe the plan, which is being put forward by Powerfuel with the backing of Yorkshire Forward, would bring 170m of investment to Yorkshire and create hundreds of jobs.
Ms Winterton said: "We have huge expertise in this area already and we need to seize this opportunity to capitalise on it and ensure Yorkshire and the Humber leads the way in clean coal technology and all the benefits it will bring."
Yorkshire Forward's total income in 2008-09 was 30.73m, down from 59.40m the previous year. The agency says this fall was driven by the sharp decline in commercial property values. Total expenditure in 2008-09 was 357.66m, down from 358.84m the year before.
Earlier this year, Tory leader David Cameron launched a policy paper which outlined proposals to "give power back to local communities".
The Tories said they planned to allow councils to establish their own local enterprise partnerships to take over the economic development functions and funding of the regional development agencies.
In his speech at the Conservative Party Conference, Mr Cameron said he didn't believe growth would come from "big government", which included regional development agencies, but from entrepreneurs.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Wednesday 23 May 2012
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Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
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