Centre for Cities comments on the Sub-National Review

Date: 26/11/2008

Commenting on the Government's Sub-National Review consultation response, Dermot Finch, Director of the Centre for Cities said

"The SNR contains a lot of technical governance proposals for regions, city-regions and local government. These are important, but let's remember the big picture: our cities and city-regions need more powers over economic development, so they can lead us through this recession and into recovery.

"Implementation of the SNR is now a priority. The recession makes the SNR more important than ever.

"So we welcome the plans for new Economic Improvement Boards, with statutory duties and powers - and responsibility for skills, regeneration and integrating transport. We think Greater Manchester should be one of the first two forerunners.

"But reform of the regional tier is unfinished business. The split responsibility for planning between RDAs and local authorities needs further thought. And there's still much more to do to streamline and simplify RDAs. We will be publishing new proposals on the future of RDAs in December."

For more information, please contact:

Rosamund Taylor, Acting External Affairs Manager
r.taylor@centreforcities.org / 020 7803 4316 / 07876 175 426

Prosperous Places: taking forward the review of sub-national economic development and regeneration was published on Tuesday 25 November, following a public consultation on some of the commitments outlined in the Sub National Review of Economic Development and Regeneration (SNR) in July 2007.

The Centre for Cities will be publishing a paper on the future of RDAs on Tuesday 9 December 2008. This will be available at www.centreforcities.org/RDAs