THE BOSS of a doomed business support organisation has quit 18 months before it was due to be wound down.

Peter Watson, managing director of Business Link Northwest, has left to concentrate on ‘other opportunities’, it was confirmed yesterday.

That is believed to include personal ventures in the private sector, it is understood.

Mr Watson ran his own companies for years but was lured to head up Business Link in 2006 when the North West base was set up in Preston.

It provides advice and support to companies in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside.

But the new coalition Government has since axed the organisations and they will be wound down by March 2012.

Mr Watson said yesterday: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Business Link Northwest and I am pleased that the excellent services we provide are recognised by our customers and key partners in the region.

“However, as Business Link enters its next phase, I feel it is appropriate for me to pursue other opportunities in the private sector and will leave at the end of the year.”

Mr Watson will be replaced by operations director Donna Edwards from January 1.

Business Link Northwest chair Vanda Murray stressed to firms that the service is still available in person, on the phone and online.

She said: “‘Looking to the future there is still much work to be done in delivering support to North West businesses, as well as the transition to whatever the future business support landscape might be and the changes this will involve.”

In September, Business Link axed 194 of its 338-strong workforce in Lancashire after the North West Development Agency lost much of its budget.

Business Minister Mark Prisk had already begun axing the Business Link organisations.

The minister claimed that the regional guidance network failed to offer sufficient value for money to the taxpayer.

He said similar sercives were already available in the private sector.

He said: “Business Link has "spent too much time signposting and not enough time actually advising.”

The move followed the Government’s decision to scrap Regional Development Agencies created by the Labour government to promote business and create jobs,