Clause 67
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Stewart Jackson (Shadow Minister, Communities and Local Government; Peterborough, Conservative)
This is an extremely important clause because it encapsulates, in the opinion of Her Majesty’s Opposition, the missed opportunity and failure of imagination arising from the sub-national review of July 2007. Ostensibly, the clause is about sustainable economic growth and land use. However, it is also about the Government’s attitude towards, and their relationship with, local authorities and locally elected people, and the question of whether the Government trust them with the authority and autonomy to make decisions in their own areas.
We are clear that we cannot support the clause and will be making the case strongly that it is unnecessary. It was apparent from the public consultation, leading on from the sub-national review, that what local authorities and other key stakeholders wanted was more power to be devolved locally and less to be given to unelected quangos. As the hon. Member for North Cornwall said, the architecture of the clause as outlined in the Bill is extremely important, because it will establish a regional strategy made up of regional development agencies and leaders’ boards, which are not what people want.
Members will know that in February 2009, we published our document entitled “Control Shift—Returning Power to Local Communities”. The Local Government Association has also made significant representation about regional policy, particularly in its document, “Prosperous Communities II—vive la dĂ(c)volution”; not a catchy title, Mr. Amess. We pledged to abolish regional planning and housing powers exercised by regional government; we pledged to strip regional development agencies of their powers over planning and to give powers to local authorities to establish their own local enterprise partnerships to take over the RDA functions.