All of Englands 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.
The Mayor of London has moved to scrap the London Development Agency and take the capitals housing and regeneration budget under direct mayoral control.
Council chiefs’ hopes that ministers would consider Total Place-style ?area budgets? were boosted when the chancellor pledged to hand councils greater financial autonomy and to consider local government’s needs holistically.
A pioneering recycling scheme in Berkshire has been officially launched following a successful pilot.
Councils will be ?encouraged? to publish details of all spending over 500 in full and online by September, under plans outlined by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
Communities minister Bob Neill has told councils to forge ahead with Total Place projects, although questions remained about how much support the programme had outside the Department for Communities & Local Government.
Local auditors are advising councils to stop all work relating to the comprehensive area assessment (CAA), with the Audit Commission set to outline on Friday how it will wind up the programme.
Lambeth LBC is set to undertake a radical shake-up after unveiling plans to slash 400 jobs, while offering residents the chance to get a discount on their council tax if they take a more active role in running services.
Senior local government figures have pledged to act to avert the threat of the sector being sidelined in the debate over how the state will secure future efficiency savings.
A change of government offers huge opportunities for things to be done radically differently. There have been some positive steps outlined by the coalition but there remain important challenges that the new government must address, not least the huge financial pressures that local government must get to grips with in the months ahead.