Examination of Witnesses (Questions 80-82)
2 NOVEMBER 2004
MR DAVID
MARLOW, MS
JUDITH BARKER
AND DR
RICHARD HUTCHINS
Q80 Chairman: What is the position in
the West Midlands, Dr Hutchins?
Dr Hutchins: It is very similar.
We are working very closely with the Government Office on developing
the regional rural delivery framework. In fact, we are chairing
one of the subgroups that is looking at the economic strand of
that and that process is working well. I would caveat that by
saying that the timetable is very tight. In terms of the West
Midlands Rural Affairs Forum, it is chaired by a former Advantage
West Midlands Board Director called Dr Tony Harris, it is a very
large forum and that needs to be looked at by the Government Office
in terms of its effectiveness, but it is a very important forum
and I think at the moment it is providing the service that it
is there to do.
Q81 Mr Jack: Does the strategy that you
have drawn up with the Government Office go to Defra for approval
or do you offer it to stakeholders in a wider forum for their
approval? How do you get the tick in the box that it is okay or
do you just do it?
Dr Hutchins: In the West Midlands
we have another group called the Rural Accord Group which in a
sense is a bit like a Regional Rural Priorities Board. There are
all the public sector organisations in one group and that is the
group which will oversee the development of the regional delivery
framework. As to where it goes from there, Judith may be able
to provide some guidance on that.
Ms Barker: Certainly ministers
will be approving it shortly after the end of December, I hope.
What Defra are requesting is that stakeholders, rural stakeholders,
business agencies, etcetera, have all been involved in the process.
In fact, in the east of England we have got a conference on 12
November to do exactly that, to involve them in the priorities,
the delivery mechanisms, the Rural Affairs Forum Review, all of
those aspects, so people can see the direction of travel and that
is a critical process in order for ministers to be able to sign
up to what is being submitted.
Q82 Chairman: I guess there are groups
like the RSPB and The Wildlife Trust who would say that the focus
of RDAs is primarily economic and you are being very successful
in getting some hard measures out of there, but your remit on
the environmental agenda is pretty limited. I think there is a
reference to sustainability in your terms of reference. By chance,
I was with the chairman and the chief executive of the agency
for the East Midlands today and they were saying that we could
do more on the environment. Is that a fair comment?
Mr Marlow: I think we can always
do more on the environment. I must say that we take the sustainable
development purpose in the RDA Act very seriously. I do not know
if the chairman has shown you, but the RDAs did produce a publication
called Smart Growth which actually highlighted some of
the contributions that we have made to sustainable development.
We could always do better, but it is actually pretty central to
everything that the RDAs are trying to do. Even when our entry
point may be an economic entry point sustainability is at the
heart of what we do.
Chairman: You have told us an awful lot.
If there is anything you want to add afterwards then do drop us
a note. I wish you all the best of luck with a very tight timetable.
Thank you very much.
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