24th April 2009
By David Williams
Councils in two city-regions have been given more spending powers through a pilot scheme announced by Chancellor Alistair Darling.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said the devolved powers for Leeds and Manchester would give local authorities more freedom to encourage growth.
Each City Region Partnership is made up of councils covering an area around a major city.
The Leeds CRP involves 11 councils, including Bradford, Barnsley and York, and will now have more autonomy, with funding for areas such as housing, regeneration and support for business.
A spokeswoman for Manchester City Council told Public Finance that the partner authorities would be meeting Darling and Treasury officials over the coming months to show how they could invest money effectively to promote growth.
However, the Local Government Association has said the scheme does not go far enough. Chair Margaret Eaton called for similar powers to be rolled out in other cities, such as Birmingham and Middlesbrough. ‘The fastest way to recovery is for more decisions about the economy to be made at the local level,’ she said.
