AWM in cuts of £35m to projects

Thursday 7th October 2010, 12:02PM BST.

Around £35 million has been slashed from the budgets of more than 120 regeneration projects across the West Midlands, it was revealed today.

Doomed regional development agency Advantage West Midlands (AWM) has been ordered to slice around 10 per cent off its existing budget this year as part of a round of Government spending cuts.

AWM said today it had cut £34.8m from its regeneration projects by axing 11 and cutting back on 110 others.

Its spending in the Black Country has plunged by two thirds, from £13.5m to just £4.5m.

This has meant £7.4m has been cut from the redevelopment of West Bromwich town centre, and another £1m from the Bilston Urban Village project.

In Birmingham the budget has been cut from £4.7m to £2.9m, with the rebuild of Edgbaston Cricket Ground losing £1.1m.

Mick Laverty, chief executive at AWM, said today: “The scale and pace of the cuts required meant that inevitably some difficult and unpopular decisions had to be made.”

Contracts had already been signed on all projects and the cuts have only been agreed following months of negotiations. But AWM said today it had protected £86.5m of major schemes.

View more: Advantage West Midlands news, Bilston news, West Bromwich news.

1
Martacus Red

October 7, 2010 at 12:11 pm

OK, what actually been cut from these projects & basically what are we now not going to see?
Vague or what????

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2
Karen

October 7, 2010 at 12:55 pm

So Quangos are losing their money, maybe now, spending will be thought about more carefully, and bids will be more realistic. Like so many ‘projects’ costs are excessive for what is delivered because the money doesn’t belong to the ‘Quango’.

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3
Connor Davies

October 7, 2010 at 1:34 pm

It means that the useless private sector is going to actually have to pay for something by itself rather than relying on subsidies and state support because the private sector in the West Midlands is too inefficient, backwards and generally staffed by losers who can’t make it in the South East.

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- Martacus Red
  
  October 7, 2010 at 2:01 pm
  
  If this country going to have to reply on the private sector for it’s wealth, we may as well all wrap up. Cameron is cloud cuckoo land if he thinks it will. I feel we are on a express train which is going to enter a very dark tunnel where cameron will expect the private sector to fund it’s exit point.
  
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- joe
  
  October 7, 2010 at 2:29 pm
  
  well the rubbish you keep on posting hardly makes you a candidate for mastermind
  
  Report abuse
4
Danimal

October 7, 2010 at 2:08 pm

Bilston urban village. a massive pot of money spent and not a lot to show for it. AWM = Joke

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5
ghost

October 7, 2010 at 3:56 pm

Bilston Urban Village, i remember those development signs going up when i was a nipper of about 12…..im 28 now and it still looks the same except the schools gone and a doctors surgery is on its place but thats about all thats changed.

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6
anon

October 7, 2010 at 11:56 pm

£1.1M for the Edgbaston Cricket Ground…er why? don’t they get enough in gate receipts?!

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