• First phase of the new Structural Funds after the 1988 reforms, 
• Regions were given a more prominent role in the development of programmes
• The region was experiencing high levels of unemployment due to a recession and 1980s restructuring. 
• Businesses, such as East Asian manufacturers, that were seeking to invest or expand in the North East were able to draw on support from Regional Selective Assistance (RSA).
• The Tyne and Wear Development Corporation was established in 1987 to regenerate the banks of the Tyne and the Wear. Major developments in the 1990s included Newcastle Quayside, Royal Quays and Enterprise Zones covering riverside areas plus the Team Valley.
• Funds for urban regeneration were also available through the Urban Programme, Estate Action, City Grant, and City Challenge.
   

• The late 1990s saw growth nationally but slow change in the North East.
• Employment grew more slowly than nationally, unemployment remained high, and the share of UK GDP slipped back to be the lowest per capita of English regions. 
• Manufacturing, although strong in parts, continued to decline, whilst the region was weak in the service sectors which were growing nationally.
• Foreign direct investment continued, although the closure of the Siemens semiconductor plant exposed its limits.
• New industries started to emerge such as call centres, digital and subsea and office parks. 
• The Structural Funds programmes ran alongside the final phase of the development corporations and City Challenge, the new Single Regeneration Budget and the start of New Deal for Communities. RSA was still available for new investments. 
• The period ended with the creation of One North East, which took on the roles of the previous Northern Development Company.
   

• The RDA’s first regional economic strategy was completed alongside the single programming document for the 2000-06 Structural Funds programme
• National funding for the region was increasingly focused through the Single Programme, with additional funding from the New Deal for Communities and Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.
• The region performed well as it started to benefit from previous investment in regeneration, improvement in GDP and GVA, growth in employment and growth in R&D expenditure
   

• The global financial crisis led to recession and the RDA was abolished shortly afterwards.
• Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) were established to support a focus on localism
• The ERDF programme was designed to complement the Single Programme in ONE, with a focus on innovation and enterprise to sit alongside regeneration projects funded directly by the RDA. 
• RDA and European funds became the main sources of regional investment. Some selective assistance continued in the form of Grants for Business Investment (GBI). 
• Private sector employment started to grow again towards the end of the period, but public employment continued to decline. 
• With the abolition of the RDA from 2011 the core budgets for regeneration disappeared, only gradually replaced by the Regional Growth Fund and the Growing Places Fund.
   

• LEPs facilitate the Single Local Growth Fund and Growth Deals as well as the implementation of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF).
• The ESIF programme involved nominal allocations of funds to each LEP and some local management but stepped away from overall programme design being driven by local needs. 
• There was further centralisation of implementation as EU funding was deployed during the Covid 19 response.
• The focus has been on employment and skills, and business and innovation with the region seeing employment growth since 2014 and convergence on other indicators, but with a continuing lag behind the rest of the country. 
• There have been signs of improvement and resilience in the main urban centres.
   

The programme featured two integrated development operational programmes (IDOPs) for Tyne and Wear/SE Northumberland and Durham/Cleveland. 
Both had a similar three-part strategy focused on enterprise/underlying competitiveness, sectoral development and spatial development. 
Significant proportions of the funding was directed towards local authorities and central government agencies, but they also supported not-for profit agencies, universities and colleges.
The main focus remained infrastructure, but they also saw the beginnings of sectoral policy with both programmes funding tourism development. 
The region received additional small allocations of ERDF funding from the RENAVAL and STRIDE community initiatives. A small STRIDE fund encouraged collaborative projects between universities and other innovation support agencies targeted at the technology needs of SMEs.  RENAVAL provided business assistance on the three rivers of the region where shipyards had closed.
 

• A single Objective 2 programme for the region was introduced with two tranches, 1994-96 and 1997-99, with broadly similar structures. 
• There was a shift towards business support measures and away from infrastructure, with an overall shift at a project level from 90% expenditure on infrastructure (1989-93) to 56% (1994-96) and 41% (1997-99). 
• The programme had a strong focus on growth opportunities linked to particular sectors or clusters (supply chains, knowledge-based industries, tourism and culture). 
• There was also a new priority for community economic development which was targeted on the problems of the poorest wards within the region. 
• The growing emphasis on sectors, innovation, enterprise and communities saw a wide range of new participating organisations
• Community Initiatives focused on particular problems within the region including SME support and rural development through the Northern Uplands programme
   

• The single focus was job creation, and was linked strongly to the Regional Economic Strategy of the RDA. 
• The programme became a single regional programme incorporating the rural areas formerly assisted through the separate Objective 5b programme. Almost all of the region was eligible.
• There was a reduced emphasis on inward investment and a greater focus on SMEs and innovation. 
• The programme was initially allocated a Community contribution of €717 million consisting of €581 million ERDF and €135.6 million ESF, with an additional €29.6 million of ERDF added from the Performance Reserve in 2004.
   

• This was a further Regional Competitiveness and Employment (RCE) programme covering the whole region with around £250 million ERDF expenditure, with the level of funding reduced following EU enlargement and rebalancing. 
• The programme was embedded in the RDA’s regional strategy and focused on raising regional GVA from 80% to 90% compared to the national average and increasing jobs and new businesses. 
• The structural funds were focused entirely on innovation and enterprise, with a drive for fewer larger projects, with other funds focused on other RES priorities. 

• Post-RDA, a different approach was taken in the UK, with single operational programmes for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• The North East part of the England programme had 9 priority axes for ERDF including technical assistance and three for the ESF
• An allocation of funds to individual LEPs was made in accordance with their assisted area status (transition/more developed) less the allocation of ESF to the National Offender Management Service and central technical assistance.
• The North East LEP area was allocated €537.4 (this moved around given changing exchange rates) million with a higher level of funding compared with other core city areas because of Durham’s status as a transitional area.