Councillors against RDAs
Author: Local Government Chronicle |
A total of 462 councillors from all parties were surveyed, with much agreement between them on the favoured quangos. While those created by the Labour government were mostly disliked, many of their more long-standing counterparts found wide support.
Less than 20% of Tory councillors supported the retention of regional development agencies (RDAs), the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), Infrastructure Planning Commission, Tenant Services Authority, Equalities & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and Partnerships UK.
However, more than half wanted the continuation of the Audit Commission, Highways Agency, JobCentre Plus, British Waterways, Health & Safety Executive, Sport England and the Environment Agency. Under-fire Ofsted and the Arts Council gained 49% support
Calling for RDAs to be axed, James Morris said: “In a world where austerity is a reality and a smarter, more local state is the future policy environment, many quangos will quite rightly have to justify their existence based on their value added.”