Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has ‘set free from Whitehall’ eight cities and their surrounding areas, by offering them power in return for
accountability.
Launching the report ‘Unlocking growth in cities’, Mr Clegg plans to give cities devolved power over infrastructure to enable them
to grow and attract investment.
As well as transport and technology, these cities are being offered ‘bespoke deals’ to take on more planning and regeneration responsibilities – including Homes and Communities Agency ‘spending and functions’.
The eight ‘cities’, or Local Enterprise Partnerships to be technically correct, are:
- Leeds City Region
- Liverpool City Region
- Greater Manchester
- Sheffield City Region
- West of England (the old Avon local authority
area including Bristol) - Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and
Nottinghamshire - Greater Birmingham and Solihull (a strip of
the midlands stretching from Bromsgrove to Burton-on-Trent) - North Eastern (includes County Durham and
Northumberland as well as Newcastle, Sunderland and Gateshead)
Over the next few months Greg Clark, Minister for Cities will work with individual cities and across all government departments to agree a series of tailored ‘city deals’.