Councils should be scrapped, say business leaders
Government should look at scrapping local councils to make them more business-friendly, it has been suggested.
Chief executive Babs Murphy, of the North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, and Downtown Preston in Business chairman Frank McKenna have both called for an overhaul of local government.
Their call comes as a new report from an independent think-tank calls for the North West Development Agency (NWDA) to be scrapped and replaced with a single 'super quango' to represent the entire North.
A report by Centre for Cities said the government should look at merging the NWDA with counterparts Yorkshire Forward and One North West.
Ms Murphy said: "More decisions on planning, regeneration and transport could and should be taken by local councilsin partnership with their business community.
"This does however need to be accompanied by strong local leadership, a sharper focus on economic development issues and opportunities for business to meaningfully influence decision-making.
"We recognise that this better business engagement at a local and regional level will present a challenge to business, but the Chamber network is willing to rise to step up to meeting this."
Mr McKenna warned that the voice of somewhere like Preston risked being drowned out by the likes of Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle.
The former North West Regional Assembly leader and Lancashire County Council deputy leader said: "The time for a debate on the future of local government will come and when it does I hope it will cover not just the development agencies but all of local government.
"At the moment, we have 16 chief executives of local authorities across Lancashire which would be much better suited as two or three local unitary authorities, just think about the savings that would bring."
The Centre for Cities proposal would mean Preston and Lancashire would have to share the same budget for attracting businesses and boosting jobs as all the major cities in the north, including Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle.
It said a super quango would be "more efficient" and would slash the 120 million-a-year administrative costs of the current three quangos, it adds.
The report concludes: "It's time to consider more radical long-term plans to improve regional economies, such as a strong, single development agency for the North of England.
"A Northern Development Agency would be more strategic, it would build better links between the two biggest Northern city-regions, Greater Manchester and Leeds city region – and create more space for them to take on more powers and deliver housing, transport and jobs."
But, agency chief executive Steven Broomhead said by expanding the scope of the agency across the North would make it "more remote" from firms.
Do you think councils and development agencies should be scrapped? Tell us your views by emailing david.coates@lep.co.uk or telephone 01772 838162.
For more on this story see Tuesday's free eight-page lepbusinessweek supplement.
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Weather for Preston
Wednesday 23 May 2012
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Temperature: 11 C to 18 C
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