Area Team
Area Teams support the work of SEEDA with sub-regional partnerships. The Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Berkshire (MKOBB) Area Team, based in Guildford is to ensure local and sub regional priorities in support of the RES and FRESA are delivered. The area team has an important external and internal role in relationship building and project management.
Area Team's strategic objectives are:
- To maximise the impact and manage effective delivery of the existing SRB and rural schemes within the sub regions, with an increased emphasis on maximising the accurate capture of tier 3 outputs and spend profiles during the year.
- Establishing the needs of the sub region in line with RES priorities as set out in the RES action plans. Working with economic partnerships and other local partners to ensure that this happens.
- Working with partners in the Growth Areas of Milton Keynes, and Aylesbury to drive forward employment led growth
- Work with partners in the MKOBB areas to identify a long term stable framework within which to place SEEDA resources to catalyse and enable investment by others, either through mainstream public funding or by private sector
- Contribute to the strategic direction and development of the Agency
- Promoting the role of SEEDA in the sub region to ensure maximum publicity for projects and ensure that on an ongoing basis partners are fully aware of SEEDA's role.
- Working with SEEDA colleagues act as a conduit for geographical issues both within the Agency and outside.
- Demonstrating effective use of PMS and SEEOnline to provide accurate information to internal and external partners
The Team:
Area Director - Deborah Wharton
Area Manager - Ross Hurley
Rural Area Manager - Emma Hodgkinson
Area Manager - Angela Warburton
Area Co-ordinator - Valerie Maguire
Area Administrator - Vicky Baber
Deborah Wharton
Deborah Wharton took up her post as Area Director in January 2005, after 18 months within SEEDA as head of Strategy & Corporate Planning. Deborah has a strong business background; her previous roles at Business Link Berkshire & Wiltshire included Director, Strategic Development and Director, Service Delivery and Development. Prior to Business Link she spent 6 years running her own business and leading business projects, following 6 years of financial management in large corporations in London.
Deborah has a degree in Psychology & Law, is a Fellow of Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and obtained an MBA from the University of Bath in 2002. Her experience within the business sector and her knowledge of the MKOBB area, and her recent involvement with the South East Economic Strategy will enable her to represent key issues for SEEDA.
The Economy of MKOBB
- The driving force behind the South East economy economy
- With total GVA of £45.2 billion (2002) it is the largest sub-regional economy within the South East
- It accounts for 33.5% of the South East economy
- Between 1993 and 2003 its total GVA has on average expanded by 4.5% per annum, faster than the national or regional average (and faster than any other sub-region in the UK)
- Over the next decade it is forecast to expand faster than any other sub-regional economy in the UK.
Over the next five years it is forecast to outperform every sub-regional economy in Europe (top performer out of almost 300 sub-regional economies).
Source: EBS/Global Insight 2004
