Gordon Brown’s plans to scrap regional assemblies and hand their powers to other regional quangos were criticised by the Conservatives last night who claimed that they were undemocratic.
Eric Pickles, the Shadow Communities Secretary, said that Labour was trying to remove the key tier of opposition to its plans to build hundreds of thousands of homes in the South and South East.
Next week Alistair Darling is expected to announce the abolition of the eight regional assemblies that were set up by Labour in 1998 shortly after Tony Blair came to power.
The Chancellor will disclose that some of their powers, such as housing and planning, will be transferred to unelected regional development agencies, which are responsible for economic strategy. Others, such as regeneration, may be devolved to local councils. Mr Brown has already announced the appointment of nine regional ministers and the creation of regional select committees.
Regional assemblies, made up of councillors, business and union representatives, have responsibilities over transport, planning, housing and environment strategy across regions. They have consistently opposed plans by John Prescott and then Ruth Kelly to try to build homes in the South and the South East, causing huge construction delays.
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Yesterday Mr Pickles called for the abolition of regional planning, with powers devolved to local councils and communities. “The Government’s move is expected since many of the regional assemblies are criticising the lack of infrastructure and sustainability in its building plans, and Labour wishes to sideline this opposition,” Mr Pickles said. “The regional assemblies are unelected, unaccountable and unwanted. But the musical chairs of passing their functions from one regional quango to another will do nothing to give local communities a greater say on where new homes should go, nor speed up the planning system.”
Chris Leslie, director of the New Local Government Network, gave a cautious welcome to the plans yesterday but said that they should be backed by stronger scrutiny. “Giving council leaders a stronger say over regional plans is vital, as is a new role for parliamentarians from each region,” he said.
Keith Mitchell, the Tory chairman of the South East England Regional Assembly, said: “The assembly gives elected local councillors the power to make decisions on housing, transport, the economy and the environment that are too big for a single local authority to make. Without the assembly these decisions would be made by quangos or remote civil servants.”
A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: “If there is any proposal to abolish or reform regional assemblies, we would need to be convinced that the arrangements allowing local council leaders to hold regional development agencies to account are an improvement on those that exist.”