RegenWM to close after AWM funding axe
The West Midlands’ regeneration organisation, RegenWM, has become the latest casualty of government spending cuts. The organisation will close its doors in December after regional development agency Advantage West Midlands (AWM) said that it could no longer “sustain its core investment” in the body.
In a statement, the regeneration project said: “Although we are very proud of our achievements and stand by our contribution to regeneration quality in the West Midlands, we recognise that the current climate is not a fertile one for regional organisations.
Advantage West Midlands can no longer sustain its core investment in our work and if we combine this with the political withdrawal from regional-scale solutions with no obvious alternative sources of future funding, it means that we are now working on legacy plans and our exit strategy.”
It was revealed last week that AWM had been forced to cut funding on 120 of its projects, following the coalition government’s demands to axe £37m from its budget next year.
AWM will be replaced by several local enterprise partnerships, which will replace regional development agencies in 2012.
Regen WM’s statement concluded: “Thank you to all those who have engaged with us productively in the past; RegenWM could not have been so successful without the support of its regional partners.”
