Securing the Region's Future

Two top Government Ministers will address a special conference being organised by the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly tomorrow (Thursday 4 October), looking at key issues facing the region.

Local Government Minister John Healey and Caroline Flint, the new Regional Minister for Yorkshire and Humber, are the keynote speakers at the event being held at the Royal Armouries in Leeds.

More than 130 delegates are due to attend the conference, which will be the first time regional leaders have been able to get together to discuss aspects of the Government’s Sub-National Review (SNR), which has a number of implications for the way in which regional and sub-regional level working takes place.

The conference, which will also be examining how the region should tackle sustainability, growth and planning challenges it faces in future, is expected to go into the SNR in more depth. Other speakers include the Chair of Yorkshire Forward Terry Hodgkinson and Max Steinberg, from the National Planning and Advice Unit.

Whilst the headlines emerging from the review are relatively clear- including that Assemblies will not continue in “their current form’’ and a bigger role for Regional Development Agencies- the detail of how the recommendations will be implemented has yet to be developed.

The Government has made it clear that Assemblies themselves, regional agencies, and other groupings of local authorities will all have a key role to play in helping to shape the detail of how the region wishes to work in the future, with the changes phased for an anticipated completion date of 2010.

A number of meetings between various regional partners and agencies have already taken place. Further consultation on elements of the implementation of the review will take place during the Autumn and before the end of the year.

Issues Assembly members have already raised include the need for more details from the Government on the planned timetable, concerns over governance and accountability issues, the role of local authorities and SEE partners and the need to maintain established regional partnership working.

Chair of the Assembly Peter Box said: “The Sub National Review marks the start of the development of new regional arrangements and the conference will give regional players a chance to talk through some of the issues involved and to help plan a way forward to help deliver real improvements for our communities.’’