RDAs will become regional planning bodies under new regulation

Regional development agencies will become regional planning bodies under plans announced by government. The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) has welcomed the reforms, which were set out in the Sub-National Review of Economic Development and Regeneration. The proposal is to merge regional planning and economic strategies – but TCPA also issued a warning to government not to marginalise local communities from planning and development.

In response to the announcement that Regional Economic Strategies and Regional Spatial Strategies will be combined into single regional strategies, TCPA Chief Executive Gideon Amos said: ‘Streamlining disparate regional strategies is something the TCPA has called for over many years. Parallel economic and spatial strategies looked like a nonsense and hampered delivery of plans that were sustainable socially, economically and environmentally. The current regional planning bodies, the regional assemblies, will be abolished.

‘But the Government is running a real risk that planning will appear to be centralised into the hands of Whitehall if its pledges that Council Leaders will develop and approve strategies are not followed through. We rely on local authorities to provide the expertise in planning and for delivery of the government’s highly desirable targets for affordable housing and low carbon development.’

Welcoming the increased powers awarded to sub-regional local authorities, Mr Amos added: ‘Increasing the powers of the big sub-regional authorities is welcome – we now need to give them real ability to deliver homes and shape places alongside the developers. It is also is critical that local authorities are given funding to deliver and that planning is kept in the public arena.’

The purpose of the review is to strengthen economic performance in regions across England, responding more effectively to tackling pockets of deprivation and considering the efficiency and effectiveness of regional and local interventions.

The new regional strategy will be agreed and signed off by both the communities secretary and the secretary for business, enterprise and regulatory reform. Planning and housing, along with transport, could be powers which are devolved to sub-regional governance bodies, which the report backed.

Eric Pickles, shadow communities minister, welcomed the abolition of regional assemblies but said: ‘Regional development agencies, regional strategies and regional ministers are just another way of imposing central government's will in the regions.’