Local agents have broadly welcomed Government plans to strengthen the Welsh Development Agency. But privately they are concerned that making the quango accountable to a proposed new Assembly could slow down decision making and deter inward investors.
Yesterday the Government detailed plans on Welsh devolution and confirmed that it was setting in motion plans for the WDA to absorb the Development Board for Rural Wales and the Land Authority for Wales.
Chesterton director Michael Rees believes the merging of the quangos should cut down on the red tape: “This is a good move. The WDA should be allowed to continue what, I think, is a good job.” The feeling is that there is already considerable overlap between the bodies so bringing them together should increase efficiency and create a one-stop shop for inward investors.
But Rees warns: “No inward investor is going to hang around while the assembly procrastinates and takes time to make a decision when he could go straight to, say, the North East instead.”
The Welsh Assembly will also identify the WDA’s priorities. But Bob Croydon, director at King Sturge & Co and Chairman of the RICS in South Wales is concerned about who will be elected to the Assembly and to what extent they will have an understanding of the property industry.
Earlier this year Junior Welsh Minister Peter Hain fended off parliamentary pressure to shift 80% of the WDA’s investment to the less developed central and west Wales. Instead Hain called for a “hard-headed realism” and a recognition that attention be paid to the locational needs of inward investors.
But the issue of increased investment in the poorer areas of Wales is likely to be revived in a Welsh Assembly. Whether the same pragmatism will be applied to the choosing of key WDA sites remains to be seen.
Rees also cautions against any move to put more power into the hands of the local authorities. “I would not want to see the emphasis put any more on the role of the local authorities where they have, in the past, perhaps been less proactive in property terms.”
EGi news 24/07/97
