THE major Government agency charged with developing and supporting deprived rural areas like West Devon has came under fire from the borough?s MP.
Liberal Democrat John Burnett said small towns like Tavistock, Okehampton and Hatherleigh were supposed to be receiving substantial investment cash under the Market and Coastal Towns Initiative scheme, announced by the Government in the wake of the foot and mouth crisis.
But the MP was scathing about the actual sums drawn down through the scheme, which is administered by the South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA).
He said: ?Nothing tangible has happened. The RDA has been dilatory and imensely bureacratic.
?Four years ago, we were promised at least a million pounds in the rural towns affected by foot and mouth ? more if we could justify it ? and what have we got?
?Lots of people have made applications ? virtually all of them have been frustrated and thwarted by delays and bureacracy caused by the RDA.
?It really is time the agency stopped hiring consultants and actually got on with some of the essential programmes.?
MCTI steering groups in the borough have spent hundreds of hours drawing up action plans and wish-lists for projects, the result of extensive consultation within the community.
Projects range from the new town hall for Hatherleigh, an innovative underground community shop facility in Exbourne, a youth café in Tavistock, a village community centre for Princetown and redevelopment of the pumping station at Lopwell Dam.
?Brokering tables? have been held, with representatives from a wide variety of funding agencies, including the RDA, English Heritage, the Countryside Agency, district and county councils.
Although some projects received small grants, funding such items as business plans or consultants? reports, no major cash injections have yet been made ? which Mr Burnett said was ?disgraceful?.
?The RDA should be ashamed of itself,? he said.
Mr Burnett said he understood the RDA was refining its internal procedures to make the agency ?more responsible and proactive.
?It?s a shame this hadn?t happened five years ago.?
A spokesman for the RDA said: ?To date, the RDA has funded £321,053 to West Devon towns in the Market and Coastal Towns initiative ? £61,500 for Tavistock, £85,153 for Okehampton, £71,000 for Hatherleigh and £103,400 for the Tamar Valley.
?The RDA has contributed this funding to help the towns draw up a community plan which identifies a long-term vision for the town and surrounding areas.?
The spokesman said project funding for schemes within the plans could be available from organisations like the Lottery, Objective 2 and DEFRA ? these organisations would consider which projects were within their remit to fund.
?Not all projects are within the remit of the RDA to fund, however, we are having specific initial discussions on significant projects in Princetown, for example, but no applications have been made to the RDA, as projects are still in the development stage,? said the spokesman.
?The market and coastal towns initiative has always been a long term vision and is not about repidly delivered projects.?
The MCTI was set up in 2000. Since then, the South West RDA says it has spent £2.4 million on staffing and initial funding.
A new body call the MCTI Association was set up by the RDA in June this year to administer the initiative in the South West.
The RDA has pledged to providing core £2.5 million funding for the MCTIA in the next three years.