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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.