PLYMOUTH'S main development body is to concentrate its efforts on creating jobs and boosting the economic value of the city.

Plymouth City Development Company (PCDC) said that due to limited resources it would focus on the most important objectives.

That means concentrating on the Local Economic Strategy's aim to create 42,500 jobs by 2026.

It also means raising the city's Gross Value Added (GVA), a measure of economic value and linked closely to job creation, to the national average by 2016.

"It's a very bullish target, especially in the current economic climate," said PCDC chief executive Gavin Carrier.

He explained the PCDC has just eight staff and added: "Because there are so few of us we have had to focus on those areas we think will make the most difference to regenerating Plymouth.

"We have to concentrate solely on those major issues that will have a positive impact on job creation and improvement in GVA."

Mr Carrier said that therefore the PCDC would not get involved in organising events, a job that will go to a soon-to-be-announced body.

But the PCDC will take the lead on creating a Plymouth 'identity and branding' – as outlined by Matthew Cross, PCDC's new director of inward investment and marketing, today.

It will also take charge of the Digital Plymouth project to plug the city into the superfast broadband network.

And PCDC will take responsibility for certain large physical infrastructure developments.

The city has many on-going projects including schemes for North Cross, Millbay, the Hoe and waterfront, the airport and air transport generally, the city centre, and the eastern and northern corridors.

Control of these will be divided between the PCDC, the Homes and Communities Agency, South West of England Regional Development Agency and Plymouth City Council.

"We will probably take the lead on North Cross, the airport and air transport generally," said Mr Carrier.

"North Cross has a 15 to 20 time frame. Regeneration is not a quick fix; it's a generational thing."

He said the PCDC would set out a set of priorities and would work to create a "cohesive city where everyone knows what we are driving at".

"There has been a lack of clarity in the past," he said.