NWDA names director of £100m a year ERDF budget
The North West Development Agency has named its first director of the European programme as it begins to take over the crucial grant funding programme.
David Malpass was previously senior operations manager at the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a position he held for five years.
At the NWDA, he will lead the delivery of the £520m European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme for the North West. Management of ERDF was until this year managed by the Government Office for the North West before the Government handed control of all UK programmes to the regional development agencies.
The current round of European structural funds (under the Objective One, Two and Three banners) is fully committed and is being wound down towards completion of spending at the end of 2008. The draft blueprint for the next round, 2007-2013, is being assessed by commissioners in Brussel before a decision on its approval. The value of the fund will be reduced for the next programme as the EU has had to divert funds to the poorer accession states from eastern Europe. Many parts of the North West of England are also showing improved economic performance and are not deemed as needy as they once were.
Malpass is a Member of the Institute of Directors and the Chartered Institute of Marketing and he is also a Senior Assessor for Business Excellence where he has led teams in assessing businesses and organisational performance against the European Business Quality Standard.
