Emda abolition was wrong, says Cowcher
Despite holding a seat on the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire (D2N2) local enterprise partnership (LEP) board, George Cowcher has told Insider he thought it was "the wrong decision" to abolish predecessor, East Midlands Development Agency (Emda). The chief executive of the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce said the axing of the regional development agency "will leave a large hole".
"We felt that it was the wrong decision to abolish the RDAs," said Cowcher. "Emda in particular has done a lot to assist businesses in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and its closure will leave a large hole."
D2N2 is one of the biggest LEPs in the country and has secured one of the government's first 11 enterprise zone locations.
"The East Midlands has a lot to shout about but there hasn’t always been a unity across the region, although Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire have got their act together with the formation of the D2N2 LEP and through individual marketing organisations like Derby Cityscape, Marketing Derby and the Invest in Nottingham club," he said.
Cowcher said that when the D2N2 LEP was set up, those spearheading it were determined to create "an organisation of scale and influence that could look the other city regions in England squarely in the eye".
"We’ve already secured an enterprise zone and think we have taken the right decision in creating something big and potentially influential," he said.
Through his work at the chamber, Cowcher has ensured the organisation is now recognised as one of the most progressive in the UK.
"We tend to work most closely with our large neighbouring chambers in Birmingham, Manchester and Sheffield. Increasingly, it's about scale and being noticed on a national level. As the third largest chamber in the country, we feel very comfortable with this agenda," said Cowcher.
Despite the chamber's success in the region's major cities, it is still regarded as "remote" in the rural areas of both counties.
Cowcher said: "The chamber's strengths are its unity of purpose, its size and scale and its involvement in all areas of public and private sector policy relating to business. Its weakness is that it is perceived as remote by businesses located in the extremities of both counties – an issue we are actively addressing."
