Miles Templeman, the director general of the Institute of Directors, says regional development agencies (RDAs) should stay, but they should be cost-effective. Speaking to Insider during a tour of Derby yesterday, Templeman said: “Cuts in the public sector will affect everyone, so the private sector will have to take up some of the slack caused by the cuts. We’re pushing the government to cut red tape to allow smaller companies to grow when the cuts do happen. I’m a fan of the RDAs; I think they’ve done some excellent work – especially here in the East Midlands – but I also think they have to learn to be cost-effective. They’ve got to do what they already do more efficiently. That may mean outsourcing parts of their organisation, but that’s no different to what the private sector has been through during the recession.” Templeman was in Derby pushing an IoD initiative to cut government red tape. He also visited Rolls-Royce and Bombardier and hosted a lunch at Pride Park.

A Midlands law firm has acted on a multimillion-pound acquisition. Wright Hassall of Leamington Spa advised Cobent on its sale to AIM-listed Access Intelligence for £5.2m. Cobent, an Oxfordshire-based company that specialises in training and compliance software, will now become part of the Access group. All of Cobent’s staff were retained under the deal, which was made up of £3.2m cash and Access Intelligence shares. Cobent’s chief executive, Howard Sears, has also become a director of Access Intelligence. For Insider comment, click here.

GSH, a provider of energy and facilities management solutions, has secured an £8m finance package from Yorkshire Bank. The group, based in Stoke-on-Trent, has a turnover of £239m and employs 1,900 people, primarily operating in the UK and Eire but also in Europe and the US. The company says the facility will allow continued investment in the business, maximising growth opportunities and enabling the management team to develop the long-term strategy of the business. The Yorkshire Bank team was led by Steve Drury and Meg Thomson from the corporate and structured finance team in the Midlands.

A West Midlands medical technology has become the first recipient of investment from the newly launched Early Advantage Fund, managed by Birmingham-based Midven. Anaxsys Technology of Keele, Staffordshire, is developing devices that enable the diagnosis and monitoring of a variety of diseases by analysing the humidity profile of breath. The Early Advantage Fund is investing £125,000 as part of a £500,000 investment round that will allow the company to conduct clinical trials prior to launching its first product later in 2010. The investment was announced at the official launch of the Early Advantage Fund, which is backed by Advantage West Midlands and the European Regional Development Fund.

Lavendon, the Leicester powered access equipment rental company, has posted a loss of £47.8m for the year ending 31 December 2009. The company made a profit of £22.5m in 2008. Revenues were also down from £259.8m in 2008 to £226.9m last year. Kevin Appleton, chief executive, said: “Whilst we do not anticipate any material recovery in our markets in 2010, we do believe that further significant deterioration is increasingly less likely and that we are well placed for profitable growth when the markets recover.”

Solihull law firm Harris Cooper Walsh (HCW) has opened a branch in Stratford-upon-Avon town centre and says the move is an important step in its programme of development, which also includes free legal helplines and longer opening hours. Mike Gahan, senior partner at HCW, believes the firm’s team of specialist city lawyers will bring a new brand of legal advice to the people of the town. The branch office will open in Union Street on 15 March; on the launch day, free legal advice will be available to new clients.

Cobbetts, which has offices in Birmingham, has been appointed to the legal framework for the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB). Cobbetts is one of 11 UK firms that will offer legal expertise to the AHDB. The firm has been appointed to a roster of firms that can provide administrative and public law, freedom of information, data protection, human rights and state aid advice. The roster will come into effect on 1 April 2010 and last for four years.

Now in its tenth successful year, the Midlands Corporate Finance Charity Ball is all set for a special anniversary event this summer. Once again, the ball will be raising funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation – a charity that brings hope and excitement into the lives of children with life-threatening illnesses by granting their wishes. Last year, the event raised £10,500, bringing the total raised during the past nine years to £107,000. You can be part of the tenth-year celebration - taking place on Saturday 5 June at the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham - by contacting Lynne Broad on 0121 202 1469 to order your tickets.

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Urban Living, the housing market renewal pathfinder for Birmingham and Sandwell, has announced a £17m regeneration programme to be rolled out over the next 12 months. Chief executive Adnan Saif confirmed that the funding will be used to take forward developments that will enable the provision of more affordable housing and support mixed communities in north west Birmingham and east Sandwell. As part of this process, Urban Living will be pushing forward sites that have already been cleared for future redevelopment, such as Crocodile Works in Newtown and The Lyng Estate in West Bromwich, where work is underway to develop approximately 600 new homes.

The 50m chimney stack on the site of the former Courtaulds factory in Little Heath will be demolished on Sunday 7 March. The 30m water tower on the site will be demolished at the same time as the chimney stack, at approximately 11am. Contractor Lee Demolition is in the final stages of clearing the 40-acre former Little Heath Works in Old Church Road. The factory, most of which has now been demolished, dated back to the 1920s but had not been in use from 2007.

Kenneth Clarke MP will officially cut the red ribbon to open the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce’s new headquarters in Nottingham. The Conservative MP for Rushcliffe and shadow secretary of state for business, innovation and skills will be the guest of honour at the opening ceremony on 19 March. The Chamber relocated to the 5,000 sq ft pavilion office unit on the NG2 Business Park last December from its former base on the Lenton Industrial Estate.

Chartered accountants Clement Keys has appointed Louise Wintle as a senior audit manager in the pension schemes audit team. Wintle joins the Edgbaston firm from a rival second-tier chartered accountant, where she was a pension assurance manager. She has been involved in pension audit work since 1995, with particular experience in multi-employer and industry-wide schemes.