Heseltine seeks devolved infra decisions
31 October 2012
Local enterprise partnerships should be given greater scope to tailor local economic plans and more control over local infrastructure projects, a government-commissioned review has claimed.
Lord Heseltine has proposed a significant devolution of power to the partnerships, which would see them bidding for a single pot of central government money rather than making bids to specific funds.Heseltine’s report, ‘No Stone Unturned in the Pursuit of Growth’, argues that a single national pot to support growth over five years should be made available from 2015-16.
He also called for all sectors of industry to develop “a formal relationship with a government department”.
The former minister also said the government should appoint a chief procurement officer in every department to improve public sector procurement, while the planning system needs to be “injected with greater urgency”.
“What we need is a new partnership between the private and public sectors, between local communities and central government,” he said.
However, alongside the plans for greater devolution of “local infrastructure”, the report said central government “must retain control of important, large scale infrastructure projects”, such as motorways, the rail network, energy provision and airports.
