The Government has announced that all Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), including SEEDA, will close by 31 March 2012.
Responsibility for economic development and regeneration in England is being passed onto successor bodies, including Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and central Government departments
Our objective is to ensure a professional and cost effective closure by this date. We have pledged to work closely with our partners, contractors and stakeholders to ensure that the past and future economic benefits of key programmes and assets continue to deliver the greatest economic value for the South East and value for money for the taxpayer.
Please click here for more details about our closure plan, transition arrangements and successor organisations.
In action: Kent and Medway: Thames Gateway
Spanning 40 miles, the Thames Gateway is the largest single regeneration initiative in North West Europe and the largest area of Brownfield land in the South East of England. The area is going to see substantial economic, employment and housing growth. The vision for the Thames Gateway is one of sustainable growth. Building an inclusive and adaptive economy, a well trained workforce, high value inward investment and first class innovation.
SEEDA worked alongside the London Development Agency (LDA) and the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) to deliver the wider Thames Gateway. In September 2008 we jointly produced an Economic Development Investment Plan (EDIP) to fully focus on realising the economic potential of the area, which could boost the UK economy by £12billion each year. In Kent alone, through the Communities and Local Government (CLG), SEEDA invested £85 million over the past six years.
Key Thames Gateway projects led by SEEDA include:
- Chatham Maritime, the Agency’s flagship site in the very heart of the Thames Gateway
- Dartford Northern Gateway
- Institute for Sustainability
- Northfleet Embankment
- Queenborough and Rushenden on the Isle of Sheppey, and
- Rochester Riverside.
Four key spatial transformers have been identified as locations for significant growth in business and employment in the Thames Gateway, they are:
- Canary Wharf in London
- Stratford/Lower Lea Valley, the site of the London 2012 Olympics
- Shellhaven in Essex (which will boast a new deep sea container terminal)
- Ebbsfleet Valley in Kent, the new International Station open and the domestic passengers service will start in late 2009.
