Osborne: all RDAs will be ‘abolished’
Author: Local Government Chronicle |
All of England’s eight regional development agencies will be abolished and replaced by sub-regional economic development partnerships based around cities and sub-regions, the chancellor has confirmed.
George Osborne confirmed that the coalition government would scrap England’s RDAs in a forthcoming Public Bodies Bill, with a white paper to be published later in the summer that will set out in detail the coalition government’s alternative plans for economic development.
Mr Osborne’s announcement confirms plans set out in the coalition agreement to scrap the RDAs replace them with joint council and business-led partnerships, to be called Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).
But last month business secretary Vince Cable said some RDAs – namely those in the north and the west midlands could remain in place. Business and council leaders in the north west and north east have since appealed to Mr Cable and communities secretary Eric Pickles to keep their RDAs in place.
But Mr Osborne’s announcement now makes it clear that all the RDAs will go, with consortia of local authorities to be given the power to drive forward economic development.
The budget document states that “strong” LEPs will be created “particularly” around England’s major cities and other “natural economic areas” to enable “improved coordination of public and private investment in transport, housing, skills, regeneration and other areas of economic development”.
It adds that the government will also consider the “most appropriate framework of incentives for local authorities to support growth”. This includes “exploring options for business rate and council tax incentives, which would allow local authorities to reinvest the benefits of growth into local communities”.
The document adds that as part of the government’s planning reforms, it will enable a more “simplified planning consents process in specific areas where there is potential or need for business growth”.
Mr Osborne said: “Over the past decade the British economy has become deeply unbalanced. Nowhere are these disparities as marked as between the different regions of Britain. Between 1998 and 2008, for every private sector job generated in the north and the midlands, 10 were created in London and the south. We need a new approach. One that empowers local leadership, generates local economic growth, and promotes job creation in all parts of the country.”