South West Regional Development Agency

Further research has been commissioned by the South West RDA, following consultation on the draft RSS and following requests from the Regional Assembly to Strategic Planning Authorities for further advice. The research will help: 

• Ensure agreed evidence gaps are plugged;
• Secure increased business engagement;
• Supplement existing evidence and policy.

The research commissions are as follows (click on the links below to access the research):

• Demand for and supply of employment land in South West England;
• Sustainable mobility;
• Rural economic activity in South West England;
• Economic dynamics and intervention in the West of England;
• Economic dynamics in the South Central zone;
• Greater Bristol Strategic Transport Study - Spatial Scenarios 1-3 and accompanying report.

A summary of key elements of each brief can be found here: First Preliminary Meeting of the EiP Panel on 16 January 2007 (Adobe Acrobat Reader Document - 58.09kb). The research will be made available here as soon as it is complete (due end of January / early February 2007).  
 
These studies are independent technical pieces of work, but they are based on successful delivery of the RES. As the studies have only just been completed and are independent, they may not fully reflect the South West RDA's current policy position.  
 
The research will, in the first instance, help inform the Examination in Public of the RSS, to be held in Exeter over a 10 week period from mid April. It will then be used to inform a future review of the RES. The South West RDA has made the research available as soon as it has been completed. 
 
In October 2005 the Agency and the Regional Assembly agreed a number of economic growth scenarios together with the assumptions underpinning them. These subsequently influenced the development of both the Regional Economic Strategy and the draft Regional Spatial Strategy. The Agency has now produced an updated paper with regard to these scenarios which takes account of the most recent data published in the interim period. This is accompanied by a statement in response to this paper from the Agency's Panel of Economists:

• Economic Projections for SW RES and RSS February 2007.