In Focus - Bordering on the interesting
I think I’ve made my views on the abolition of the regional development agencies very clear. I think it was an act of political spite and nothing to do with economic efficiency.
The confusion surrounding local enterprise partnerships (LEPS), which will replace RDAs, has been caused by the government. It is policy making on the hoof and a classic case of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Why couldn’t the RDAs be re-thought rather than abolished?
But we are where we are and one of the by-products of the decision is that the boundaries we had started to accept as West and East Midlands are being re-thought. The areas that regional development agencies (RDAs) Advantage West Midlands and East Midlands Development Agency had to cover were always spurious. Neither Stoke nor Hereford are in the West Midlands but they were under AWM’s remit.
But then the West Midlands is a made up region. Have you ever met anybody who said they come from the West Midlands? No, me neither. The East Midlands is also largely manufactured as an entity.
What is happening now is that more natural alliances are returning. Chesterfield, part of the East Midlands in RDA terms, is looking towards nearby Sheffield even though it’s in Yorkshire. Northampton and Rugby are also closely linked even though in RDA terms the former was in the East Midlands and the latter in the West Midlands. In the west of our region Telford & Wrekin, Shropshire and Herefordshire are forging an alliance under the more traditional Marches banner.
And to take the Midlands a whole, what did Birmingham ever have in common with Lincoln or Wolverhampton with Wellingborough, the latter being a London commuter town for many residents? More obvious alliances such as Birmingham and Oxford - think university collaboration, medical technologies and automotive - and Northampton and Milton Keynes were overlooked because Oxford and Milton Keynes weren’t within the RDA map.
If anything positive is to come out of the demise of AWM and Emda it is that businesses, organisations and public sector bodies will look more widely for collaborative opportunities.
In the east of the Midlands, Milton Keynes, Peterborough and Cambridge can come into the thinking and in the west Oxford and points further south may become part of the equation.
It may not always work in our favour, of course, I’ve already mentioned Chesterfield looking towards Yorkshire but perhaps Stoke may decide to look north towards Manchester rather than south towards Birmingham when it looks to form partnerships. After all many of the movers and shakers in the Manchester business community live in Cheshire, just up the motorway from North Staffordshire.
Of course the borders had to be drawn somewhere and the RDAs weren’t able to pick and choose which places they wanted in and which ones they didn’t. But it did create a ‘not in my bailiwick’ mentality that the new world order will sweep away.
Whether the big cities in the Midlands would be better off going it alone in the future is an argument for another day.
Any comments? Andy Coyne, editor, Midlands Business Insider
Recent Posts
Services
Dealmakers Services Directory
Directory Find an advisor to help you buy, sell or invest
Property Services Directory
Find an advisor across property services
Commercial Property Finder
Full commercial property listings in the Midlands
Guides
Midlands City View
The news, features and analysis that matter for your city
International Trade
Our guide provides expert analysis on a range of trade destinations
42 under 42 Members
The latest class of the Midlands brightest young business people
- Contact us
- Midlands
- North West
- South West
- Wales
- Yorkshire
- Other regions
- 0121 232 0980
- 0161 907 9711
- 0117 906 5900
- 02920 434500
- 0113 220 4410
- 0161 907 9718
- Insider regions
- Central & East
- Ireland
- Midlands
- North East
- North West
- South East
- South West
- Wales
- Yorkshire