£44m cuts 'will not halt the recovery' in region

Thea Stein said she had the skills to guide the RDA through difficult economic times and was confident the agency had a "big role to play" in the future.

The Government has demanded all departments make massive savings and Yorkshire Forward has offered to slash spending on more than 100 projects – which the Yorkshire Post exclusively revealed this week would put more than 7,000 jobs at risk and see some of the region's biggest regeneration projects cut back.

The cuts were attacked by some members of the business community who claimed a number of schemes on the hit list had been chosen for the speed with which savings could be made, rather than long-term merit.

Ms Stein said the accusation was unfair as there were no projects being funded by the agency that are of little value and everything offered some form of merit to the region.

She admitted they had to take a "pragmatic approach" after the Government gave them just ten days to draw up the list of cuts and revealed they also had to find 2.5m of savings from administration costs on top of the 44m.

"People have to imagine what it would be like if you are running a business and then someone comes in – when you are already into the financial year and your plans and budgets are in place – and says you have to make major cuts immediately.

"We had ten days to find the savings we have offered and it is inevitable some of what we do will be pragmatic, that is just the situation we are in.

"But the idea that we are running anything that is of low of no value is mythological – some RDAs may do those things, we do not. What the public do not want to see is us paying more to get out of a contract than we would make in savings, we have made the most strategic decisions we could and we have done our best."

The very future of RDAs is being questioned with some in the Tory party believing they should be abolished. The official stance of the coalition government is that the "regions will decide" whether the agencies are needed.

Ms Stein admitted she was taking over at a very difficult time but was adamant Yorkshire Forward was not only needed but vital to helping the region through the economic recovery.

She believes it must focus on the success that has been achieved in business growth areas such as advanced manufacturing, innovation and carbon capture technology.

"I am taking control of a ship that is in choppy waters but it is certainly not one that is sinking," she said.

"We now have a Government that says it is a permissive government, they are asking local areas what they want and Yorkshire has a really proud pedigree saying 'we will do things our way, this is what we want'.

"Yorkshire Forward has a big role to play and we have an opportunity in this region to come out of this stronger, there is still everything to play for."

Ms Stein is currently Yorkshire Forward's executive director of economic inclusion, which covers skills and education, worklessness, equality and diversity and working with local authorities and charities.

She will take over from Tom Riordan, the outgoing chief executive who will join Leeds City Council at the end of July.

The Yorkshire Post revealed yesterday that millions was being cut from major flagship schemes such as Tower Works in Leeds, Bradford City Park, the Spa redevelopment in Scarborough, and the 1bn York Central transformation scheme.

Leeds, Bradford and Barnsley councils will each lose around 3m in RDA funding.