Quangos RSS feed for the Quangos tag
found 85 stories.
Business
Graeme Brown B'ham Post 19 Aug 10
Business and council leaders have backed plans to create local agencies to promote economic growth – but insisted a regional approach will still be needed too.
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has told councils and business leaders including chambers of commerce to draw up plans for local enterprise partnerships by September 6.
The partnerships will replace regional development agencies, the large regional bodies created by Labour. There are likely to be six enterprise partnerships covering the West Midlands region, which was previously served by a single agency…
Business
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 5 Aug 10
The introduction of a Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership offers exciting opportunities for the sub-region, the area’s Chamber of Commerce has claimed.
Mike Dell, President of Black Country Chamber of Commerce, said: “With a population of over one million people and a strong industrial heritage, the Black Country, together with its world-class manufacturing and engineering base is well placed to help grow the local and UK economy again…
Business
BusinessDesk 3 Aug 10
Leading business figures serving on the board of regional development agency Advantage West Midlands have been cleared to continue serving on the body until its demise is complete.
The continuing terms of appointment have been outlined by Business Minister Mark Prisk…
Comment
Jonathan Walker B'ham Post 30 Jul 10
After the Government announced it was scrapping the English regions, the Birmingham Post’s political editor Jonathan Walker argues that the West Midlands never captured our hearts – but we may still need it.
What connects Sparkbrook’s balti belt and Dudley’s factories with Herefordshire’s dairy farms and Staffordshire’s village fetes?
The answer is that they are all part of the West Midlands, a diverse region with a GDP of £94 billion and a population of 5.2 million. But that is set to change…
Comment
B'ham Post 30 Jul 10
Birmingham Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jerry Blackett is putting a brave face on the difficulties the West Midlands is facing in pressing ahead with forming Local Enterprise Partnerships. A decision by the four Black Country councils not to join Birmingham in setting up what would have been a significant successor to the regional development agency was described as localism in action.
Well, so it is. But that doesn’t make the decision right. As Mr Blackett points out, a Birmingham and Black Country LEP would be a force to be reckoned with in a global marketplace where size and reputation does matter as far as attracting inward investment is concerned. As things stand, the conurbation will have two separate LEPs, and the West Midlands as a whole could have as many as six LEPs…
Business
Paul Dale B'ham Post 29 Jul 10
Old rivalries between Birmingham and the Black Country have put paid to plans to set up a powerful successor to Advantage West Midlands.
Birmingham City Council has been attempting to persuade Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Dudley councils, along with business leaders, to join forces in establishing one of the Government’s new Local Enterprise Partnerships, which would replace the regional development agency as a driving force of economic regeneration.
But talks behind the scenes ran into a brick wall when the Black Country council leaders said they would rather go it alone…
Business
Duncan Tift BusinessDesk 26 Jul 10
The organisation charged with regenerating the borough of Walsall, Walsall Regeneration Company (WRC), is to close following the decision by regional development agency Advantage West Midlands to cut its funding.
WRC is responsible for promoting and facilitating the regeneration of large areas of Walsall, including the town centre, Walsall Gigaport, Walsall Waterfront South and the Darlaston Strategic Development Area…
Business
Jonathan Walker B'ham Post 22 Jul 10
The West Midlands region is to be officially abolished, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has announced.
Ministers have decided that the region, which brings together Birmingham, Solihull, the Black Country, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire, is to go…
Business
Express & Star 24 Jul 10
Huge cuts in the public sector will pave the way for the revival of West Midlands manufacturing, Chancellor George Osborne said last night.
He warned that this week’s announcement of the closure of regional quangos with the loss of 800 jobs will not be the last and added: “The answer is not more public money being poured into bureaucracy”…
Business
Tamlyn Jones BusinessDesk 22 Jul 10
The key to economic survival in the wake of the break up of AWM is for Birmingham and the Black Country to avoid a ‘turf war’, according to a leading economist.
The area should follow the example set by Greater Manchester where, according to a leading local business academic, the 10 boroughs work together rather than against one another…