social enterprise

This article is provided courtesy of the news feed at http://www.newstartmag.co.uk/news

Walsall Regeneration Company is to close its doors with the loss of four jobs after its regional development agency cut £50,000 of funding.

It follows the news that fellow Black Country urban regeneration company (Urc) Wolverhampton Development Company is to be wound up because of reduced funding levels.

Both Urcs are part-funded by Advantage West Midlands (AWM), which is set to be abolished under government proposals to replace regional development agencies with local enterprise partnerships (LEPs).

Urcs were introduced to coordinate investment from public and private sectors, and attract new investment through promotion and regeneration, and were typically funded by the local authority, the local RDA and the Homes and Communities Agency.

AWM, Walsall Council and the government each previously provided £250,000 funding a year to Walsall’s URC, but AWM was forced to scale back to £200,000 from April this year.

WRC chair Brian Lowe said: ‘WRC has been a key driver of the impressive regeneration of Walsall in recent years; unfortunately the significant cuts in funding by one of our funding partners meant the company was unable to proceed as a going concern.’

Mike Bird, WRC board member and Walsall Council leader, said: ‘The decision to close the WRC was unavoidable given the severe funding position in which the company found itself.’

The council’s executive director of regeneration Tim Johnson will take responsibility for progressing regeneration plans, while future options are considered with partners and key stakeholders.

Working with its partners, WRC attracted more than £400m of investment in the last six years.

It is the latest in a series of Urc closures across the country. Sandwell Council announced it was pulling funding for Regenco last August, with the council leading on economic regeneration across the borough instead.

Similarly, Bradford Centre Regeneration and Derby Cityscape have returned powers to their respective city councils.

Tees Valley Unlimited is submitting a bid to become an LEP, while other Urcs have become economic development companies (EDC) including Forward Swindon, which was established in April this year.

Former Urc, Hull Citybuild, also later became an EDC called Hull Forward, but announced last month it will close in September because of funding issues.