{"id":157818,"date":"2010-01-09T07:28:52","date_gmt":"2010-01-09T12:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skyscrapercity.com\/showthread.php?t=1041501"},"modified":"2010-01-09T07:28:52","modified_gmt":"2010-01-09T12:28:52","slug":"one-northeast-our-regional-development-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/157818","title":{"rendered":"“ONE NorthEast” – Our ‘Regional Development Agency’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/p>\n

First we had the NEDC (North of England Development Corporation) then we had the NDC (Northern Development Company) and now we have ONE NorthEast.<\/p>\n

OK, I may have missed some out there, not sure? <\/p>\n

I left the UDC (Urban Development Corporation) called Tyne & Wear Development Corporation,<\/i> out on purpose, as that was something specific, temporary and different.<\/p>\n

BUT, do these ‘Regional Development Agencies’<\/i> really do any good? What have any of them achieved for us?<\/i><\/p>\n

This thread has been prompted by the article in todays (9th January 2010) Newcastle Journal . . .<\/i><\/p>\n

\nTories reveal plans to break up agency<\/font><\/b>
\nJan 9 2010 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal <\/p>\n

CONSERVATIVE plans to scrap development agencies could see the North East split into three parts.<\/p>\n

The Tories have told the region’s council chiefs they will allow them to get together with business and decide whether or not to scrap the \u00a3250m-a-year regeneration body One North East. While many councillors attending yesterday’s Association of North East Councils summit in Gateshead have publicly supported the agency, behind the scenes there are rumours some would be greatly tempted by the Tory offer.<\/p>\n

Shadow local government minister Bob Neill told the summit his party was of the opinion that the cash behind the agency would be put to better use if it was handed to groups of authorities built around smaller economic areas such as Tyneside and Teesside.<\/p>\n

Council chiefs could potentially come together and be handed control of millions of pounds for major projects, an option which would make it easy for an elected councillor to show voters how he or she had brought jobs to their patch.<\/p>\n

Tyneside and Teesside could form two easy economic areas, with city leaders aware of suggestions that Sunderland and Durham could also form their own partnership.<\/p>\n

Between them they account for two of the region’s biggest authorities.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Journal, Mr Neill said “natural economic areas” such as these deserved to have a greater say over jobs funds and warned quango bosses a new era of accountability would follow a Conservative election victory.<\/p>\n

He added: “We will give local authorities the chance to have their say on whether the agency goes, and we would want to give those councils the chance to bid to take over the funding, so the money will stay local.<\/p>\n

“The areas that the money is handed to will have to be decided locally, but I think that is a much more accountable way of dealing with this.<\/p>\n

“I think people here do want to see that happen, that they have a much greater say over where the money is spent. If in the North East they think the agency works well for this region – and in a region of this size it might – then they can put that case to the Department for Business, but at least they will have the option.”<\/p>\n

Under current funding rules a council bidding for cash from One North East for a jobs project in Alnwick would have to compete for the funds against projects from as far south as Redcar in Teesside.<\/p>\n

Minister for the North East Nick Brown last night said the Tory plans would spell disaster for the region.<\/p>\n

He said: “They are preparing to make a terrible mistake. We have a proven track record of working together on the key economic issues that matter and seeing the benefits for all. I don’t think breaking up that partnership into several sites will help anyone.”<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First we had the NEDC (North of England Development Corporation) then we had the NDC (Northern Development Company) and now we have ONE NorthEast. OK, I may have missed some out there, not sure? I left the UDC (Urban Development Corporation) called Tyne & Wear Development Corporation, out on purpose, as that was something specific, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2238,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}