EEDA: Corporate Blog The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) is the driving force behind sustainable economic growth and regeneration in the East of England. This is our corporate weblog, where you will find comment, opinion and thoughts from our leaders and individuals within the organisation. 

Unlocking the region's enterprise potential

27 March 2008

This month the government launched its new Enterprise Strategy for unlocking the nation's entrepreneurial talents. In the East of England, one of the ways EEDA is working toward that goal is through Enterprise Road - a new year-long project to find the best ways to break through the barriers to enterprise.

While the East of England has many business success stories, it still has a wealth of locked-up enterprising potential, particularly in certain places or amongst some demographic groups. Countless people who could be entrepreneurs never take the first step because they see too many obstacles - for some it could be a lack of skills or confidence, for others it might be access to affordable finance or workspace.

Yet there are many great projects across the region that are using innovative ways to enable would-be entrepreneurs to realise their potential. Enterprise Road is a way of allowing these support-providers and entrepreneurs to share their experiences and ideas, so we can ensure the best quality early-enterprise support throughout the East of England.

You can find out more about Enterprise Road at www.eeda.org.uk/enterpriseroad, where you can also join the debate on the Enterprise Road blog and register for the project's launch event on 16 May.

Posted by Alison Webster, executive director on 27 March 2008 3:10 PM Comments (0)

Launch of EEDA's Cut your Carbon campaign

17 March 2008

I'm excited to announce that today is the launch of EEDA's Cut your Carbon campaign. The three year campaign and competition aims to bring together communities in the East of England to tackle climate change. Groups that take part will be able to measure their carbon footprint, become more energy efficient and seek to win EEDA match funding of up to £200,000 for innovative projects that cut carbon emissions.

One exciting aspect of the campaign is the community carbon footprint calculator. Based on DEFRA's Act of CO2 calculator, it provides the first step in helping groups understand how much carbon dioxide they produce and what they can do to reduce their carbon impact.

We also have a high profile panel of judges on board who will help to decide which projects are inspiring and innovative enough to go forward to receive funding. The panel will be co-chaired by Richard Ellis, EEDA chair and Jonathon Porritt, head of the Sustainable Development Commission, and also includes Fay Mansell, chair, National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI) and Tim Pyke, head of climate change, E.ON UK, among others.

If you want to get involved or find out more, please visit www.cutyourcarbon.org.uk or email the team at cutyourcarbon@eeda.org.uk.

Posted by Alex Menhams, campaign manager, Cut your Carbon on 17 March 2008 9:00 AM Comments (2)

EEDA announces new chief executive

3 March 2008

I was delighted to announce today that Deborah Cadman would be taking over as EEDA's chief executive come July. Deborah will be a great asset to EEDA and comes from St Edmundsbury Borough Council where she led the organisation to an 'excellent' performance rating and a reputation as one of the country's top districts.

I'm very much looking forward to working with Deborah on tackling the big issues facing the region. I know that she is 'over the moon' to be joining us and I've no doubt that she will be warmly welcomed by all at EEDA and across the East of England.

But I must also take this opportunity to thank David Marlow for his hard work, energy, commitment and leadership during his time with us. I personally will miss working with him when he leaves us at the end of July, but I wish him well in developing his career in economic development and public policy consultancy, advice, research and problem-solving.

Posted by Richard Ellis, EEDA chair on 3 March 2008 5:26 PM Comments (0)

Economic growth without a rise in carbon? The challenges of a sustainable economy.

25 February 2008

The East of England is one of the fastest growing regions in the country. With economic success comes increased demand for housing, transport, business premises, leisure facilities etc

Is it possible to have economic growth without having a detrimental impact on the environment?

Well, with the right leadership and co-ordination, research shows that decoupling growth and carbon is possible. Indeed, we will need to grow in order to provide the reinvestment required to mitigate and adapt to the challenges of climate change. The region is well placed to address growth sustainably and to maximise its opportunities. The sustainable economy programme aims to underpin this premise through driving appropriate activity in other programmes as well as leading through its own actions.

Climate change poses a very real threat to our region, with our low-lying geography; vulnerable coastline and scarce resources whilst we're the highest resource users. However, rather than react to the changing business climate, we must seize this moment as an opportunity. The Stern Review gave us evidence of the economic opportunity in tackling climate change: potentially, this is a market worth billions of pounds. Capitalising on this opportunity is not an impossible challenge with the region's emergent strengths in renewables and environmental technologies.

Today, sustainable development is no longer just a 'bolt-on' or desire - it is a critical success factor to the future of our region and EEDA will lead by example. We will shortly achieve Environmental Management System (EMS) certification, through achieving ISO 14001 and Eco-Mangement and Audit Scheme (EMAS), and plan to become carbon neutral by 2010. We aim to provide an example to 95% of businesses in the region through a comprehensive retrofit project on our offices. All EEDA investment in the region is also now subject to minimum standards of sustainability in design, concept and management, using the Excellence Framework.

A key aim of the programme is to lead the drive towards efficient use of resources (in particular water, energy and waste) in the region through, for example mainstreaming resource efficiency support into Business Link, and investing in innovation in environmental and energy technology, We will also use innovative campaigns to reduce carbon in the region's communities - the Cut your Carbon campaign. The region's rural areas have huge potential to contribute to this agenda, and we will be working to ensure that these opportunities are optimised. We are also the only region to be maintaining a low carbon/resource efficiency theme for all the EU funding which we manage.

The sustainable economy programme will underpin all the work that EEDA delivers in the East of England - and, with the support of the region - we can help to realise low-carbon economic growth for everyone.

Posted by Fiona Bryant - head of sustainable & rural on 25 February 2008 12:11 PM Comments (0)

Economic participation: maximising everyone's potential

18 February 2008

Imagine that you run a business with 100 employees. 70 of them are out working on the shop floor, while the rest are kept in a locked room, unable to get involved. If you want to grow your business, you could certainly help the 70 to work more efficiently and more effectively. But your growth will always be limited until you open the door to the 30 and allow them to work.

In the same way, to produce sustainable economic growth we must tap into the region's unused potential. As well as supporting existing business and those already in work, we need to harness the time and skills of people who aren't currently able to participate in the economy.

EEDA's new economic participation programme will continue the work of the current 'Investing in Communities' core product - identifying the barriers to economic participation and enabling individuals to access jobs or start their own business. At a regional level we'll continue to focus on issues including maximising the economic benefits of migrant workers, providing finance to business start-ups and supporting a thriving third sector. We'll also carry on the Investing in Communities fund, devolving funding for economic participation to local decision makers across the region.

Economic exclusion isn't just unfair, it's economically inefficient. And by creating opportunities for participation, we'll benefit everyone who lives or works in the East of England.

Posted by John Wilkinson, manager - communities on 18 February 2008 10:10 AM Comments (1)

EEDA's corporate plan 2008-11: have your say

11 February 2008

Do you want to have your say on how EEDA spends its money for the next three years? If so I would be pleased to hear your comments on our draft corporate plan for 2008-11. It's open for consultation now, and you can comment on it until 5pm on 5 March 2008 via our brand-new online consultation portal.

The corporate plan is how we'll respond to the big issues facing the region, such as those set in the regional economic strategy (RES) and the challenges set by the recent Sub-national Review of Economic Development and Regeneration. Last year's Comprehensive Spending Review has put even more pressure on all the regional development agencies to deliver more for less - and I think we've tackled that robustly.

Over the next few days, you'll find a series of blog posts will be written by different teams within EEDA detailing some of the proposals. Make sure you check back regularly to hear an inside perspective on how we think the new corporate plan will deliver a better region for everyone who lives and works here.

Remember, your views are important and I look forward to reading them. Finally, if you have any queries about the process, feel free to drop a comment on the blog or email corporateplan@eeda.org.uk.

Posted by Richard Ellis, EEDA chair on 11 February 2008 9:00 AM Comments (0)

It's time to show some appreciation

4 February 2008

Last week saw the publication of yet another report proving that migrant workers are "neither keeping people out of jobs nor slowing down wage growth". There is now a weight of evidence demonstrating the positive economic contribution that migrants make to the UK, or to specific regions within it. So why is it that the perception of migration remains so negative?

Migration undoubtedly brings with it a number of challenges, and there is no denying that it can create increased pressure on public services. There are issues that need to be addressed, and our national conference in 2007 focused on ways to enhance coordination between services to manage the challenges of migration with limited public funds (download the transcripts here). But these rational concerns too often become the justifications for an emotive hostility towards those who are different from us. Despite the modern context, it is the same historical mistrust that has been shown to every wave of migrants who have enriched our nation's economy and culture.

For the sake of our economy, those attitudes need to change. Employers must be able to harness the potential of skilled migrants without fear of negative publicity. And despite recent projections of ever increasing numbers of migrants, we will have to work harder to attract migrant workers to this country as the economies of Eastern Europe grow and there are higher skilled jobs to keep people there.

We must start telling the positive stories at least as loudly as those who spread the negative stories. So if you're an employer and have a good story to tell, we want to hear about it.

Posted by Mark Allison, manager - migrant workers on 4 February 2008 7:04 AM Comments (1)

Delivering internationally-competitive regional growth, together

22 January 2008

How can we deliver internationally-competitive regional growth in the East of England, while also facing the challenges of the sub-national review (SNR)?

I believe that a 'regional leadership team' made up of regional development agencies (RDAs) and local authorities (LAs), with private and third sector partners can make SNR a win/win situation by working together to challenge the government to deliver on its promises.

There is a huge challenge, but massive opportunities in delivering an internationally-competitive economy in the region, which will bring jobs, wealth and sustainable growth to business operating and individuals living in our towns and cities.

However, we must move beyond the 'zero-sum game' of SNR and challenge these attitudes and perceptions that are holding us back: the belief that local authorities' increased role can only be at the expense of RDAs, and vice-versa. We cannot afford to stand still - to do so in economic terms, would be to go backwards, as the East of England moves down the international-competitiveness rankings.

Moving beyond the north/south divide debate

We have got to get away from the north/south divide debate and 'do sub-national development better', a view I have held for a while, and which Stephen Timms MP (Minister of State for Competitiveness) talked about last week. This 'sterile' approach is unproductive and fails to consider the important issue of international competitiveness of the regions.

We should all now be recognising that globalisation and technological change are the key components of economic growth and more than ever before, regions and city-regions can be equal to national government in determining the attractiveness of locations for growth and development.

What we should agree

This is the agenda that we must agree on to meet the challenges of a global economy; to raise economic participation; and to raise bottom-line of businesses:

• - regional priorities for growth, development and public investment through the single regional strategy (SRS) and regional funding allocation (RFA) processes
• - local area agreements (LAAs) and multi-area agreements (MAAs) that really make the most of the international-quality competencies of our towns, cities and their hinterland
• - mobilising partners behind these priorities, from both of our (slightly different) stakeholder constituencies - public, private and third sector
• - simplifying regional, sub-regional and local delivery management and partnership working through the new SRS, LAA and MAAs
• - jointly building economic management capacity to plan and manage these agendas at the highest levels of quality.

Posted by David Marlow, chief executive on 22 January 2008 9:00 AM Comments (1)

What should be the economic growth rate to which the East of England aspires?

10 January 2008

And is our current economic growth rate too high or too low?

Historically, the East of England has "enjoyed" growth rates which have made us one of the three English regions with gross value added (GVA) per capita above the national average. However, with growth has come large-scale migration to the region, increasing housing demand, fuelling a dual fear of both homes becoming less and less affordable; and also of the concreting of parts of our countryside in an attempt to dramatically increase housing supply. This is an unsustainable "vicious circle" for those who sometimes seek to restrict growth in the region.

Interestingly, though, this decade has seen the East of England grow slower than the national average in each of the last five years. The gap between our economic performance and that of London and the South East, and that of some of our international competitors has increased. This has neither diminished the continuing rise in housing demand; nor the decreases in housing affordability - especially whilst London continues to drive the strongest propensity to commute of any region in the UK.

The draft regional economic strategy attempts to stimulate a serious debate on this paradox. Far from being too high, our growth rates this decade are dangerously low in terms of the future international competitiveness and long-term standing of our region. Developing adjacent to a world city, probably most at risk of climate change and with the lowest per capita public spend of any UK region, requires us to formulate, and thereafter plan and manage a new high growth, sustainable model of development. Creating a new "virtuous circle" will require bold, single-minded and purposeful regional and local leadership. But first we must have that serious debate...

Posted by David Marlow, chief executive on 10 January 2008 3:13 PM Comments (4)