THE Tories have ruled out axing the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) – but the controversial quango still faces a major overhaul.

Amid growing speculation about the body's future if David Cameron's Conservatives win the next election, the party will unveil plans which will preserve the SWRDA in name alone.

It will be stripped of powers on transport, planning and housing and instead focus solely on business and economic development.

The SWRDA – which last year received £159 million in Government funding – has come under fire from critics who question how well the money is spent. One of the most persistent criticisms is the size of the area it covers, stretching from Land's End to Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

The Labour government has promised greater accountability of the region's unelected bodies through a regional select committee, though a year after the pledge was made, the plan has still not been enacted.

Mr Cameron has previously warned the SWRDA must "justify what it does" insisting there could be a "very strong case" for simply shutting it down.

But the WMN understands the agency – which is about to be handed more powers from the soon-to-be abolished regional assemblies – will survive under the Tories, although not in its current form.

Elected councillors and business leaders will also get a bigger say in the shape of the organisations driving the region's economy, which could see several smaller bodies covering parts of the South West instead of just one.

Shadow business secretary Alan Duncan believes the Government has "polluted RDAs" by "diluting all their original business purpose". Instead they have become an executive arm of Government, he says.

"This isn't what RDAs are all about," he said. "They're not there to decide where to put 50,000 houses – they should be there to develop the economic fortunes of an area."

The Conservatives claim regional policy is "in a mess under Labour" and want to see the planning policy for the area handed back to local councils when the regional assemblies disappear.

Councils will also be encouraged to "join together" to create a single voice for more regional projects. It could mean having one body covering just Devon and Cornwall, able to fight its corner without being overshadowed by large towns and cities like Bristol and Swindon.

The SWRDA has defended its position, saying that since 2002 the agency has created or safeguarded 30,442 jobs and created almost 70,000 learning opportunities.

It also points to almost £500 million of private sector investment and reclaiming 623 hectares of brownfield land as key achievements.

Rumours the RDAs would be ditched altogether by the Tories were fuelled by comments made at the party's annual conference in Birmingham last month.

Shadow local government secretary Eric Pickles said a long list of quangos would be scrapped under the Conservatives, adding: "The best thing I can say about RDAs is that they haven't done much harm.

"In terms of our plans for quangos, you could only possibly say we were looking towards restructuring them if you felt that Anne Boleyn received a restructuring from the guillotine."

Read Matt Chorley's blog at www. thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk/matt chorley