Response to the Conservatives' decentralisation green paper
Date: 17/02/2009Responding to the publication of the Conservatives' decentralisation green paper,
Dermot Finch, director of the Centre for Cities said,
"We agree that mayors with real strategic economic powers are needed in the UK's major cities. But a single authority mayor in the largest cities like Manchester and Newcastle would be a missed opportunity. Our biggest cities need more powers over their wider city-region. That means mayors for Greater Manchester and Tyne & Wear, not just Manchester and Newcastle.
"We'd like to see all political parties commit to city-region wide mayors in their next general election manifestos - to give cities the power and leadership they need to lead us on the road to recovery."
For more information please contact:
Rosamund Taylor, Acting External Affairs Manager, Centre for Cities, 020 7803 4316 / 07876 175 426 / r.taylor@centreforcities.org
Notes to editors
The Centre for Cities (www.centreforcities.org) is a non-partisan research and policy institute, helping cities to improve their economic performance.
The Conservatives'
green paper on the decentralisation and local government Control Shift is available on the
Conservative party website.
Proposals
include:
- To legislate to hold a referendum in England's twelve largest cities on having an elected mayor. The twelve cities are Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield. The Centre for Cities has been calling for elected mayors in our major cities since 2006.
- Sub-regional 'enterprise partnerships' to take over the economic development functions of the Regional Development Agencies. In December 2008 the Centre for Cities called for a radical shake-up of regional government after the next general election, including proposals for a single Northern Development Agency, and a more sub-regional approach in the South East. This report is available at www.centreforcities.org/RDAs
