Regional Development Agencies (Hansard, 11 June 1997)

§ Baroness Hayman

We plan to bring forward legislation in the autumn to create regional development agencies in England to improve regional economic competitiveness and to provide for effective, co-ordinated regional economic development. It is intended that the boundaries of regional development agencies (RDAs) will be the same as the administrative areas of the Government Offices for the Regions, except that there will be a single RDA for the North West region including Merseyside.

My honourable friend the Minister for the Regions, Regeneration and Planning is today beginning a series of regional tours to seek local views and to open a dialogue on how to take matters forward. The Government recognise that the English regions have different characteristics and different problems, and we do not wish to impose a single prescriptive model for the agencies. We want to ensure that legislation allows each region to have arrangements which fit its particular circumstances, building on the work that many bodies are currently doing.

This morning my honourable friend met representatives of the national organisations with a major interest in regional development to outline our plans for touring the regions, to hear their views, and to encourage them to participate fully in the regional process.

As a means of focusing debate, the Government have produced a paper setting out the issues for discussion, and inviting any written views by 5 September. We have placed a copy of the paper in the Library.