§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make the Local Government Boundary Commission responsible for regional boundaries in England. [12099]
§ Mr. CabornI announced on 11 June that we intend the boundaries of regional development agencies to be the same as the administrative areas of the Government offices for the regions, except that there will be a single agency for the north-west region including Merseyside.
§ Mr. LevittTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the effect on the powers and responsibilities in respect of planning and development in their geographical areas of those bodies which straddle borders between Government regions of his proposals in respect of the regions, with particular reference to the Peak District national park. [12110]
§ Mr. RaynsfordGovernment offices and the various regional planning bodies already liaise on cross boundary regional planning matters. We envisage that the regional development agencies which we are proposing to set up will be able to cooperate with one another in developing and implementing economic strategies for the regions.