RDAs lack the flexibility to target funds quickly enough to help businesses through the recession, according Peter Rogers, chief executive of the London Development Agency.

He criticised regional agencies for acting as simple funders of 'random regeneration', rather than as influential bodies that can take a strategic role in bringing businesses and local authorities together to work more efficiently.

He said the government’s rules forced RDAs to commit all their funds to specific projects, instead of allowing them to hold money back from their annual budgets to create a fighting fund that could be directed quickly to help combat the effects of the downturn. His comments will add to the political battle over the future of England’s nine RDAs.

Financial Times