New Clause 32
Greater London Authority Bill
12:30 pm
Andrew Pelling (Croydon Central, Conservative)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
I move the motion with the experience of having sat on the board of the London Development Agency, which sits in the wider regional development agency family. The targets that are set for the London Development Agency might be applicable to RDAs generally, but they have often been found not to sit so well with an agency that operates within a separate democratic process. There is significant input from the Mayor and the Mayor’s office. However, a lot of the reporting information that is required of the London Development Agency has been quite irrelevant to the needs of an agency that operates within the overall democratic structure of London’s governance.
It is also important that the London Development Agency should be able to secure its direction from the Mayor, in having targets set for it in respect of his or her desires for the performance of the London economy, and for the rejuvenation of those parts of London that are deprived and in need of special support. In that respect, I am again grateful for the strong support for the new clause from London First, which says that it is appropriate that the Mayor should set such priorities, rather than central Government, so that the work of the LDA is entirely consistent with the overall economic development strategy for the capital.
Our approach throughout the discussions on the Bill has been, where possible, to devolve powers from central Government to the Mayor, while also ensuring that the Mayor does not secure powers up from local government. The new clause therefore sits well within our overall philosophy for the Bill—to be radical and positive about extra powers for the Mayor, while ensuring that political decisions are made at the lowest political level, in terms of their closeness to the residents who elect the politicians.