North East tourism and business funding slashed

Jul 15 2010 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

Development agency boss warns of more difficulties

ALAN Clarke, One North East chief executive, has warned the region faces more difficult decisions.

He said: “One North East has to find reductions of £32.9m single programme and £2.7m operating costs to its budget in this financial year.

“We have begun this difficult and challenging process by implementing a 10% reduction to the agency operating costs and running costs across 25 partner bodies that we fund in the North East to deliver specific areas of economic development on our behalf.

“We have informed all of the affected organisations of the decision we have made which we understand will be difficult to manage given the challenging economic conditions we are all working in.

“In September the board will take final decisions about the £32.9m cuts to be made to our programmes and projects. All areas of funded activity will be included in the scope of the review.”

“These further reductions will ensure that we meet the challenging target we have been set for this financial year.”