GOOD luck to all those now trying to rescue jobs at Lister-Petter.

I was a member of the Board of the Regional Development Agency in 2000 when the news came through that the firm was about to collapse. I remain proud of the way the RDA responded so quickly. Over the course of a frantic weekend officials put together a package that would buy the land and allow the company to rationalise its operation. Within days senior officials and ministers had been persuaded to work together to invest in what was a major project.

It would be unlawful for the government to directly fund Lister-Petter but by acquiring the land for regeneration, the RDA was able to save the company and start the long process of redevelopment of the critical site for Dursley. It also set ambitious objectives to build high quality housing and work spaces that would meet the best environmental standards.

It was an example of the value of regional development agencies. The RDA was big enough to have the expertise and the political clout to pull such a deal off but local enough to understand what was needed in Dursley. The local council could not have achieved such a success and the national government was too far removed to respond. Without the RDA, Lister-Petter would have been yet another casualty of Britain's manufacturing decline. This case was held up in Whitehall as a fine example of sensible economic intervention and it matched what happens in all the successful economies of the world.

Without stopping to consider the consequences, this government threw away the tool box by abolishing the RDA.

For the local MP to blame the RDA for Lister-Petter's current situation is an astonishing re-writing of history. The failure to quickly react to the recent floods, the skills shortages in engineering, the collapse in inward investment in the South West and the lack of progress to harness tidal power in the Severn Estuary are just a few examples of where we need better regional coordination and planning.

Many in government now privately accept that closing the RDAs was an act of haste and spite.

Neil Carmichael would do well to learn the true story of the RDA in Dursley before he seeks to blame them for his own government's failings.

Nigel Costley

South West TUC Regional Secretary