Local authority leaders' boards are voluntary regional associations of council leaders that have been established in

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outside of

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to replace certain functions of the now abolished regional chambers. The establishment of the boards was part of the

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's ''Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration''. which brought forward the Government's plans to alter the structure of regional governance in England and was mandated by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. In June 2010, the new

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announced plans to remove funding from the new boards and to remove their statutory functions. It was indicated that the boards might continue as voluntary associations of council leaders. The remaining four areas of the UK have similar voluntary or mandated associations:

London Councils London Councils is the local government association for Greater London, England. It is a cross-party organisation that represents London's 32 borough councils and the City of London. It was formed in 1995 as a merger of the London Boroughs As ...

, the Welsh Local Government Association, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Northern Ireland Local Government Association.

The local authority leaders' boards

The leaders' boards are: * East of England Local Government Association * East Midlands Councils * Association of North East Councils (closed in March 2016) *

North West Regional Leaders Board The North West Regional Leaders Board is the Local Authority Leaders’ Board for the North West region of England. It was established on 15 July 2008 and replaced the North West Regional Assembly. It was initially based at Wigan, in Greater Manch ...

South East England Councils South East England Councils (SEEC) is a voluntary association of council leaders from the 74 local authorities in the South East region of England. It is a regional grouping of the Local Government Association. It was established following the abo ...

* South West Councils * West Midlands Councils *

Local Government Yorkshire and Humber Local Government Yorkshire and Humber (LGYH) was the partnership of local authorities, including fire, police and national park authorities, across Yorkshire and Humber. It had links to the Local Government Association at national level and incorp ...

(closed in March 2015) Each leaders' board corresponds to a region of England.

Structure and functions

When the regional chambers were abolished, their executive functions transferred to the regional development agencies, and their scrutiny functions became exercised by the new leader's boards. The RDA and the leader's board were to jointly produce a new Single Regional Strategy, with ministers exercising an oversight function. The UK Government did not propose a set structure for the boards and each region was free to make its own arrangements. The Government however did aim for the boards to be: * streamlined and manageable, able to make strategic, long-term decisions; * representative of local authorities across the whole of their region — including representing key sub-regions, upper and lower tier authorities and the political balance of leaders; * composed of local authority leaders and with sufficient authority to act on behalf of all the local authorities in the region.

Withdrawal of funding

In June 2010, the new

announced its intentions to abolish regional strategies and return spatial planning powers to local government. These plans include the withdrawal of funding to the existing eight local authority leaders' boards with their statutory functions also being assumed by local councils. The boards may continue to exist as voluntary associations of council leaders, funded by the local authorities themselves. They continue to exist as regional groupings of the

Local Government Association The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national membership body for local authorities. Its core membership is made up of 339 English councils and the 22 Welsh councils through the Welsh Local Government Association. The LGA is p ...

References

External links

Regional Groupings - from the LGA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Local Authority Leaders' Board Regional planning in England Regionalism (politics) in the United Kingdom

The local authority leaders' boards

Structure and functions

Withdrawal of funding

See also

References

External links