CLG officials are continuing to negotiate with EU counterparts over fears that £1.3bn of unused EU funding for England could be at risk because of the abolition of regional development agencies.
Under EU rules, recipient bodies must be regionally-based, but with the RDAs set to bow out in 2012 and the new local enterprise partnerships still embryonic, there are fears the EU cohesion and structural funds remaining from the 2007/2013 round could be left unallocated.
