Voluntary Action Elmbridge

At a meeting of membership organisation South-East England Councils, all but two of the region’s local authorities voted to abolish regional development agency (RDA) Seeda.

South-East England Councils said it would now press for a devolution of the RDA’s economic development functions down to local authorities and local enterprise partnerships (LEPs).

Under plans set out by the coalition Government, RDAs would have to surrender their powers to councils that group together as a LEP. These are described in the coalition deal between the Tories and Liberal Democrats as joint local authority-business bodies brought forward by local authorities themselves to promote economic development.

South-East England Councils chairman Paul Carter called for a meeting with ministers to discuss the detail of LEPs.

He said: The future is local. We need to strip away the old bureaucratic regional structures quickly and let elected local authority councillors work directly as the link between businesses, central government and our local communities.

"On the economy, councils in the South-East are ready and willing to take on the role of working with businesses in LEPs to drive forward continued economic success in our area."

Last week, Regeneration & Renewal revealed that South Hampshire’s multi-area agreement, the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire, had asked officers to examine how it might become an LEP.