WIREDGOV

Cllr David Sparks, Chair of the Local Government Association responded to yesterday's announcement by the Chancellor George Osborne that greater powers will be devolved to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

"Yesterday's announcement of more powers for Greater Manchester is very good news for people living in the region. However, this is only the first step on the road to a much bigger and wider process of devolution, not just for the Manchester city region, but for the whole of England, which will require different approaches for different areas, including how they are governed.

"Devolving down to England's big city regions will generate billions of pounds worth of economic growth. But this is only the tip of the iceberg.

"We have long been making the case for people from across the country being able to benefit from more of the important decisions affecting their lives being made close to where they live, whether home is a big city or a rural area.

"Across a wide range of issues, there is compelling evidence that taking decisions closer to where people live achieves better results and saves money. Giving local areas greater control over skills funding could reduce youth unemployment by half. Freeing councils to invest in housing, create land trusts and work with developers could create an extra 500,000 homes. Fully integrating funding for health and social care would help people live independently at home longer into their older years and save almost £4 billion.

"Government should seize the opportunity of next month's Autumn Statement to set out a new settlement for England which devolves decisions about housing, transport, skills and economic development as well as health and social care, down to local areas."

Notes to editors

1. The LGA's campaign ‘Investing in our nation's future – the first 100 days of the next government' sets out a blueprint for devolution to local government including decisions over housing, health, roads, skills and schools: http://100days.local.gov.uk/

2. Last month, the RSA's City Growth Commission set out the economic benefits of devolving to major cities. Next week the Independent Commission on Economic Growth and the Future of Public Services in Non-Metropolitan England will publish an interim report setting out what more can be done to promote growth and improve public services in non-metropolitan areas.

LGA Non-Metropolitan Commission

Contact

Cherie Willers, Deputy Head of News and Internal Communications
Local Government Association
Telephone: 020 7664 3120
Email: cherie.willers@local.gov.uk
Media Office (for out-of-hours contact): 020 7664 3333
Local Government House, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HZ