Welcome to the South West Regional Development Agency

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• Working with business
• Working with local authorities
• Working with partners
• Working with Europe
• Key sectors

Working with local authorities

Local authorities are key delivery partners for much of the RDA’s investments. (see our Area pages). Our partnership working with local authorities extends to collective support and participation in key areas, such as:

• Strategic Leaders’ Board and South West Councils: the RDA Board and the Leaders’ Board together form the South West’s Joint Strategic Board. They provide an important forum for us to consider collectively the strategic issues facing the region and to work jointly to develop solutions.
• Cross-boundary working: two Multi-Area Agreements (MAAs) are in place in the West of England (which covers Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset (BANES), North Somerset and South Gloucestershire) and Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole. We are engaged with (and in some cases directly support) Local Area Agreements (LAAs) and Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) at local and sub-regional level.
• EU programmes: we work closely with all local authorities in our capacity as managing agent for the ERDF Convergence and Competitiveness programmes, which deliver millions of pounds of investment to the region. Together with all the region’s local authorities we also support and manage the South West United Kingdom Brussels Office, ensuring our collective interests are represented in Europe.
• Economic intelligence: through the South West Observatory, we also provide expertise and assistance to local authorities collectively, helping them develop local economic assessments (LEAs).
• Major projects: working closely with partners on major schemes such as the Flybe academy in Exeter, the regeneration of Gloucester Docks, the Combined Universities in Cornwall and the Osprey Quay site in Dorset.
• Past funding of Strategic Economic Partnerships across the region has helped to address economic issues locally, giving businesses more of a voice in local decision-making.

Working partnerships

We also have working partnerships with individual local authorities where we are working closely to deliver shared economic objectives. Here are some examples:

• Bournemouth Local Asset-Backed Vehicle: this is an innovative project with Bournemouth Borough Council, which takes a long-term view of property management by the council working with businesses to develop assets and share proceeds.
• City Development Companies: these are primarily private sector-led partnerships established to improve competitiveness and economic growth in cities.
• The Plymouth City Development Company, launched in February 2008, is one of the first of its type in the UK. It is a partnership between the private sector, Plymouth City Council, the South West RDA and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).
• The Cornwall Development Company was launched in April 2009 and follows a similar model to Plymouth.
• The Gloucester Heritage Urban Regeneration Company has benefited from many years of RDA investment and close working with all partners.
• The Agency has worked closely with Swindon Borough Council and the HCA to help transform the urban regeneration company for Swindon (The New Swindon Company) into an economic development company. It now has a larger geographic footprint and a wider remit to tackle regeneration, development and economic growth.
• Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF): we work with local authorities to determine priority investments for this fund, which provides RDA and Department for Transport investment. The most recent example is the infrastructure investment in East Devon. Poole’s Twin Sails Bridge is another instance of RIF funding – South West RDA investment of £9.96m combined with a DfT grant of £14.4m will help open up a large area of vacant land in Poole Harbour for housing and employment, creating around 5,000 jobs.
• Area Action Forces: developed in response to the economic downturn, the RDA is working with other regional and local bodies to ensure that companies in difficulty receive coordinated support, particularly when faced with redundancy and company closures.