Is it time to say RIP to RDAs?
East Yorkshire builder Martin Cuthbert is packing up his tools.
His firm used to employ 25 people, but the recession has taken its toll and he's about to emigrate to New Zealand.
Mr Cuthbert is a former regional chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses. He says he is leaving the country because he is disillusioned with what he claims is the lack of support for small firms in the area.
He describes the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward as "not fit for purpose".
Created by Labour in 1999, Yorkshire Forward is one of nine regional development agencies in England.
It has a budget this year of £277m. Funding comes from central government and the EU. It currently employs 450 people
Yorkshire Forward claims that for every pound it spends - £10 is invested by the private sector. But after more than a decade in existence many people seem unaware of its exact role.
Smaller development agencies such as Hull Forward are already facing the axe.
And projects which had been reliant on Yorkshire Forward money - such as the £5m replacement of Hornsea's Floral Hall - are now in doubt as the government considers the future of regional development agencies.
The Conservatives have long been sceptical about regional development agencies, but it will be largely down to the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable to decide whether RDAs survive under the coalition.
I'm Tim Iredale, the BBC's Political Editor in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and presenter of the regional Politics Show. This is strictly a "no-spin" zone where the political viewpoint is more Humber Bridge than Westminster Bridge. Your comments and observations are more than welcome. 
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