Clause 118
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]
9:30 am
Rosie Winterton (Minister of State (Yorkshire and the Humber), Department for Communities and Local Government; Doncaster Central, Labour)
Unfortunately, I have not yet had time to read the article that the hon. Lady refers to, but I can reassure the Committee, because there is a recognition that local authorities have asked for more robust multi-area agreements so that duties are placed on partner authorities. The vivid illustration that I asked for yesterday when discussing the matter with officials was raised earlier by the right hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon. His point was that if there is a desire in North Yorkshire for the authorities to come together—perhaps in a multi-area agreement—there may be a need to sign up the regional development agency. The idea was that, within that multi-area agreement, duties would need to be fulfilled. Local authorities consider that that gives more reassurance, when putting together plans for future economic development, that they have an agreement that needs to be fulfilled by the various different bodies.
I should like to offer reassurance to the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne and the hon. Member for Wycombe. This is not about imposing targets—every authority or partner to whom a target relates must agree to that target for it to apply to them. We are trying to achieve a consensus about working together, while responding to the points that local authorities have made about proper backing through duties being appropriate for them. I hope that I have reassured hon. Members and that the clause will stand part of the Bill.