Regional Update     

The Coalition Government removed most of the regional structure and setting up new sub-regional structures. This page explains the current situation (January 2011).

National Situation
The new Government withdrew funding from Regional Leaders Boards and initiated the winding down of Regional Development Agencies (such as Advantage West Midlands) by March 2012. Government Offices are being disbanded.

The Government also revoked Regional Spatial Strategies. However, this was challenged in Court by Cala Homes and as a result RSS’s will not be abolished until the current Localism Bill formally removes them. However, local authorities are being encouraged to review housing numbers and other elements of their Core Strategies to reflect local need rather than regional targets.

The Localism Bill announced in December 2011, sets out how localism will work in more detail. You can read our comments at cpre.org.uk (needs link to national cpre website). Meanwhile the Core Strategy process continues.

West Midlands Reaction
The West Midlands Leaders Board has renamed itself West Midlands Councils and agreed to continue with a small staff to articulate issues in the region and facilitate discussion between local authorities funded by local authority subscriptions.

To support economic regeneration Local Enterprise Partnerships have been announced across the region for: Birmingham and Solihull, Black Country, The Marches (Hereford, Shropshire and Telford), Warwickshire and Coventry, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Stoke.

They will be able to bid into a Regional Growth Fund, however, this will be a much smaller pot than Advantage West Midlands had for regeneration projects.

What we are doing
CPRE has raising concerns nationally about whether local authorities would actually reduce housing numbers, protect green belt.

We have also raised concerns about areas where we feel the loss of Strategic Planning could impact on the countryside and the environment.

We will be lobbying to improve the Localism Bill in crucial areas, such as Third Party Rights of Appeal, Community Right to Build and the delivery of Strategic Planning.

We will continue to campaign to ensure Local Enterprise Parnterships are transparent, inclusive and have a wider sustainable development remit.

Regionally we are closely following how local authorities are actually behaving in relation to housing, which we will reviews as the position settles. We are continuing to engage, where we can, with regional and sub-regional bodies. We will specifically want to influence Local Enterprise Partnerships to value and protect the countryside, both for its own sake and as an asset for the region.

12.07.11