CLA unhappy that money intended for business must be returned

The CLA in the North has expressed its disappointment that rules affecting the closure of the North West Development Agency have led to hundreds of thousands of pounds, intended to be spent in the North West, being returned to central government.

Douglas Chalmers, Director CLA North, said: It is very frustrating that money that could be effectively spent to help businesses create and sustain jobs in our area has to be returned. When it was announced that Regional Development Agencies were to close, the Cabinet Office banned any further promotion or marketing of programmes and services, with the inevitable, if perhaps unintended, consequence that demand fell away. With fewer applications, the organisations who have been providing these services have had to wind down their activities, and this has led to significant pots of unspent cash.

As new agreements were also banned at the same time, this money cannot even be reallocated and so has to be returned.

In terms of the amounts of money that RDAs used to deal with, these are relatively small sums. But to a small business, trading in a still fragile economic environment, this money would not only be a significant enabler, but the benefits would be multiplied as it cascaded through the local economy.

As a membership organisation, the CLA supports landowners and rural businesses and our success is measured by how effectively we do that. We have a team of experts in London and a regional structure able to give local support. We have been looking after the interests of our members, as well as promoting the positive aspects of land ownership and land management, for the past 100 years. CLA members own approximately half the rural land in England and Wales, and the resulting expertise puts us in a unique position to formulate policies and lobby effectively.

 

 

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