South East England Development Agency 

Berkeley House  Cross Lanes  Guildford  GU1 1YA

The South East England Development Agency is one of nine set up by Peter Mandelson in 1999. 

As the map shows, the region stretches from Dover in the east to the Isle of Wight in the south west and north to Milton Keynes.  It wraps round London and , when taken with Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, forms part of the world city-region that is London.

The South East Region is the power house of Great Britain's economy.  In 2008/09, it contributed £18 billion net to the Exchequer; only two other regions made a positive contribution and they were London and the East of England Region which, between them, contributed another £18 billion.  All other English regions withdrew funds from the Treasury.  

The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) is a Government-funded agency set up in 1999 responsible for the economic and social development of the South East of England - the driving force of the UK's economy.

The SEEDA Board is appointed by the Secretary of State for Business Innovation & Science (BIS). 

The key strategic economic development document for the South East is the Regional Economic Strategy.  Here is a link to the SEEDA web site.  

The coalition government has announced the abolition of regional development agencies (RDAs) and has slashed RDA budgets hugely.  Legislation to close down RDAs will be introduced in 2011 and they are to disappear by 2012.

There has been a large structural imbalance in our economy for a long time.  The Greater South East, comprising London, the South East Region and the southern part of the Eastern Region is the economic power house while the northern and midlands regions plus the South West Region have weaker economies and are heavily dependent on public sector spending, funded by the Greater South East. 

The Conservative Party has never liked regions and it was on the cards that they would disappear following a change in government.  The Liberals seem to have gone along with this.  This is interesting, given their Europhile tendency with all the trappings of regionalism.

If I have a worry now, it is an emerging view from Vince Cable, the Liberal Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Science, that the Greater  South East can fend for itself and that funding needs to be channelled into the northern and midlands regions. 

While the Greater South East is the power house of UK economy, it cannot and must not be taken for granted.  The South East has been slipping down the productivity league table and this needs redressing. 

Oxfordshire has a very exciting economic offer: the best university in Europe (the second best in the world after Harvard) and the best new university in the country;  it has the fantastic science base in Harwell, Culham and Milton Park; it has world class health facilities in Oxford and numerous spin-offs as a result;  it has more publishers than London;  it has the hugely successful BMW mini and a new electric one; it has eco-Bicester and an emerging green economy.  It would be criminal if the lack of relatively modest government investment did not capitalise on this economic wealth.