Extensive consultation was carried out throughout 2005 with stakeholders across the South West. Follow the links below for details of each of these events and download the Consultation Summary Annex for more information on the consultation process. 
 
Consultation Summary (Adobe Acrobat Reader Document - 986.16kb)

• Evidence Base Seminar
• Pre-drafting consultation
• The Main Event
• RES/RSS Events

Evidence Base Seminar

As part of the review of the South West Regional Economic Strategy (RES) in 2005, the Government has asked the South West RDA and its partners to show a strong evidence base in support of the region's strategic economic goals for the period 2006-2015. A shared evidence base, based on previous research commissioned by the RDA and its partners, will inform the RES Review and the range of other regional strategies.  
 
A discussion document was launched at an Evidence Base Seminar on 27 May 2005. Links to presentations and workshops can be found below:

Presentations

The South West Regional Economy (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation - 553.98kb) 
Presentation by Nigel Jump 
 
The South West Regional Economy: Context (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation - 568.32kb) 
Presentation by Kevin Butler  
 
The South West Economic Productivity Gap (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation - 98.30kb) 
Presentation by Prof. Martin Boddy and Prof John Hudson 
 
Prospects for South West Economic Growth (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation - 82.43kb) 
Presentation by Prof. Eric McVittie 
 
From Mid West to South West (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation - 17690.62kb) 
Presentation by Daniel Carmody

Workshops

Economic Trends and Disparities 
 
Paul Williams (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation - 699.39kb) 
 
Peter Gripaios (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation - 93.18kb) 
 
Enterprise and Competitiveness 
 
Indices of Competition (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation - 91.13kb) 
Presentation by Prof. Martin Boddy 
 
Knowledge Economy (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation - 337.40kb) 
Presentation by Prof. Martin Boddy 
 
Rural Economy and Tourism 
 
Prof. John McInerney and Prof. John Fletcher (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation - 74.24kb)

Pre-drafting consultation

During June and July 2005 the South West RDA consulted on the priorities and actions to be in the revised RES. The following document outlines the way in which the RDA completed this phase of the consultation process. 
 
Regional Economic Strategy Review 2005: Stage 2 (Adobe Acrobat Reader Document - 97.60kb) 
 
The contextual paper, below, was produced to help guide the pre-drafting consultation events. 
 
RES Review 2005: Contextual Paper (Adobe Acrobat Reader Document - 461.15kb)

The Main Event

The draft Regional Economic Strategy for South West England was unveiled on 20 September 2005 at The Main Event. 
 
More than 400 people attended the event from a variety of organisations and businesses across the region. People were given an opportunity to give immediate feedback on the draft through a number of interactive methods or 'zones' as they were called.  
 
This feedback was used to shape the first draft of the strategy. 
 
Video Clips from the Main Event 'Vox Pop Zone' are listed below:

Presentations from the conference: 
 
RES Presentation (Adobe Acrobat Reader Document - 89.81kb) 
By Simon Hooton, the South West RDA's Head of Policy 
 
Interactive Voting Session (Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation - 1111.55kb)

RES/RSS Events

The South West RDA and South West Regional Assembly organised four joint consultation events across the region in November and December 2005. These gave stakeholders an opportunity to contribute to the development of both the draft Regional Economic Strategy and draft Regional Spatial Strategy. Comments from these events were fed into the final draft RES that was sent to Ministers.