RDAs trapped in abolition groundhog day

Since the coalition agreement between the Tories and Lib Dems was published last month, the Government's policy on RDAs has been pretty clear: the agencies will go and will be replaced with new local enterprise partnerships. A number of details regarding the transition remain unresolved, but the key point - that the RDAs are to be abolished - was made clear on 20 May, when the full coalition deal was published. We ran a story about it at the time.

So why then have stories heralding the demise of the RDAs - and presenting this as new news - repeatedly appeared in the national press over the last month? Is it because national newspaper journalists are lazy and can't be bothered to read a few government documents? Is it because regional economic development policy is difficult to understand? Is it because Tory supporting newspapers (and their readers) like a bit of quango bashing? I'm not sure what the reason is, but I'm sure RDA staff feel that this poor coverage is unhelpful and unnecessary, and fails to address a number of crucial questions over the future of economic development.

I've lost count of how many stories there have been presenting the abolition of the RDAs as news over the last month. Here are some examples (note the dates of the stories):

Regional agencies thrown on to bonfire of quangos (The Times, 29 June). Only yesterday the newspaper says it has "learnt" that regional development agencies are to be abolished as part of a government bonfire of quangos. The story also says - without any attribution - that "since the RDAs' creation in 1999 the economic imbalances between regions have got worse, partly because national policy has not been devolved to local areas".

Budget: Regional Development Agencies to be scrapped (BBC, 23 June). BBC website says that "the nine regional development agencies (RDAs) across England are to be scrapped, Budget documents show". This is not true - while the Budget did say that the RDAs will be abolished, the future of the London Development Agency is the decision of London mayor Boris Johnson.

Coalition announces plans to replace regional development agencies (Telegraph, 12 June). Eric Pickles, the communities and local government secretary, will say that all nine RDAs will go as part of Coalition plans to streamline government and find big efficiency savings, reports the newspaper three weeks after the news was first announced. A few problems with this - firstly, RDAs are Vince Cable's responsibility, not Pickles' and, again, the announcement of the abolition of the RDAs does not apply to London.

If any more 'RDAs to be abolished' stories appear after today I'll flag them up here.

The delegates have their say at CIH summit

At this year's Chartered Institute of Housing conference in Harrogate, one of the big stories was that England's housing and regeneration quango the Homes & Communities Agency will become a smaller and more strategic body.

Housing and regeneration minister Grant Shapps, who headlines our own National Regeneration Summit on 14 July, also told delegates that housing regulator the Tenant Services Authority would be abolished. The TSA’s financial regulation responsibilities are to be handed to the HCA “or another body”, Shapps said.

Our reporter Ben Cook was prowling the corridors of the conference to get the views from the most senior delegates on the above developments.

Here's what they told him:

On the move to scrap the TSA, Tenant Participation Advisory Service chief executive Michelle Reid said: "The TSA regulatory framework was produced by tenants and providers. It would be diabolical if that framework was thrown away. Tenants want the framework to survive. I don't know what will happen to National Tenant Voice - NTV has a vital role to play in increasing the negotiating power of tenants. Tenants won't accept a decrease in the powers they fought for. My hope is the framework will survive."

Chief executive Brian Johnson of South-East housing association Moat Housing said: "The TSA regulatory framework is a huge step forward and I understand Grant Shapps is impressed with the regulatory framework. There is also a growing realisation among social landlords of the benefits of the regulatory framework.

On the possibility of some TSA functions merging with the HCA, Nottingham Community Housing Association chief executive Mike Andrews said: "The sector's got to be regulated so from a practitioners point of view, we'll live with what we've given. I think there's a conflict though with the funder being the regulator. But, in that sense, we're just going back three years to when the Housing Corporation was the funder and the regulator."

On the announcement earlier this month that the ring-fence will be removed from Housing Market Renewal funding, Andrews said: "The danger of removing the ring-fence is that the money will be spent on something it's not meant to be spent on. But there will be pressure on local authorities from the market - properties deteriorating, waiting lists growing - we will find a way of doing things cheaper."

CIH conference: Housing professionals value early intervention scheme

Housing professionals want intensive family support projects protected from cuts, reports Ben Cook

One message to emerge from this week’s Chartered Institute of Housing conference in Harrogate is that if the coalition government is as serious as it claims it is about cutting costs, it should ensure that Family Intervention Projects are properly funded.

FIPs are intensive programmes aimed at helping families guilty of persistent antisocial behaviour. They see practitioners help troubled families with the whole gamut of household tasks, ranging from helping to get the kids to school to giving parents tips about how to manage the household budget.

As delegates who attended a session on FIPs at the Chartered Institute of Housing conference were reminded, FIPs - of which former Prime Minister Gordon Brown was a staunch supporter - have been a success.

And one of the main ways in which they have been successful is saving money.

FIPs reduce legal costs because they reduce the likelihood of having to take an antisocial family to court. They reduce management and maintenance costs because they have been successful in stopping antisocial tenants from trashing their homes.

The CIH conference heard this week that in some cases, social landlords have saved more in seven months after implementing an FIP than the actual cost of running the FIP.

One FIP was successful in saving a children's social services department £189,000. The costs associated with a FIP are relatively minor in comparison - the total costs are put at £8,000 to £20,000.

So, if George Osborne is intent on slashing public spending, he could do a lot worse that ensuring FIPs across the country are given the funding they need to tackle problem families.

POSTED BY BEN COOK

Poll: How progressive is the coalition's emergency Budget?

"The people at the bottom of the income scale will pay proportionally less than the people at the top. It is a progressive budget,” George Osborne told MPs in the House as he delivered his emergency Budget.

Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg - who before May 6 had campaigned against a rise in the main rate of VAT - emailed Lib Dem MPs about the Budget telling them that "fairness was at its heart".

Osborne and Clegg might cite the levy on banks, the increase in the income tax threshold and the coalition's commitment to invest in regions (pictured is Middlesbrough in the North-East) reliant on the public sector as examples of fairness. They probably wouldn't cite the freeze on Child Benefit, which has got child poverty campaigners concerned, or the 25 per cent reductions in budgets to key Whitehall regeneration departments such as the Department of Communities and Local Government. (For an overview of the regeneration-related measures, read our Budget in 60 seconds.)

In a post-Budget presentation, the Institute for Fiscal Studies largely disagrees with assertions from Osborne and Clegg that the Budget was progressive. Director Robert Chote writes: "The Budget looks less progressive - indeed somewhat regressive - when you take out the effect of measures that were inherited from the previous Government, when you look further into the future than 2012-13 and when you include some other measures that the Treasury has chosen not to model."

Chote does add that when viewed against households' spending - not "snapshots of income" - the VAT increase looks progressive.

We want to know what you think of the emergency Budget. It is progressive, as Osborne claims? Or, as Channel 4 blogged, does it make the coalition look more Marie Antoinette than Robin Hood? Please vote in the poll at the top of this blog and comment below.

Blog debate: How can regeneration do more for less?

Prime Minister David Cameron and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg have today written to six million public sector workers asking for their ideas on how the coalition Government can do more for less. The move is part of a new "Spending Challenge" announced by the coalition intended to engage the country in thinking about public services and how they are provided. We're all in this together, remember.

Following the chancellor's announcement earlier this week that most public sector workers face a two-year pay freeze, it remains to be seen whether the letter actually gets read, or will end up in six million public sector bins. Nevertheless, all serious ideas will be considered and passed to relevant departments to consider how they might be implemented, Number 10 says. You can get involved here.

The letter says: "You work on the frontline of public services. You know where things are working well, where the waste is, and where we can re-think things so that we get better services for less money."

We'd like to hear your thoughts on the letter. Please comment below, letting us know what you think is working well in regeneration, where the waste is, and how better regeneration services can be provided for less money.

Features editor's overground ordeal revisited

Earlier this month I posted a bitter rant about the newly reopened London Overground in which I promised to publish any response I received from Transport for London. Well, following a call from the press office yesterday, the following arrived in my inbox this afternoon.

Dear Mr Branson,

We apologise sincerely for the disruption to your recent journeys on London Overground.

While we are not trying to make excuses for the level of service you experienced, it does seem that you were caught in a series of unfortunate coincidences on the network. No railway ever works 100% perfectly and you were unlucky enough to suffer the results of unrelated incidents.

On Wednesday 2 June, the problem was caused by sagging overhead cables in the Kentish Town West area. Despite Network Rail engineers working through the night, the problem persisted into the next day until approximately 11am. The cause is being investigated.

On Friday 4 June, it was a stalled train which caused the knock on delays on the system. None of these problems were related to the upgrade work on the Stratford to Gospel Oak section which took part earlier this year.

When TfL took over what was known as the Silverlink network in 2007, we could see the huge amount of work that would be required to deliver a proper train service and advised that there would be short term pain for long term gain.

We are aware we are currently in the “short term pain phase” of the £1.4bn upgrade and that we are asking a lot of our passengers’ patience. We have tried to ease the pain where possible e.g. zone 1 refunds were available during the closure. However London Overground is only too aware we could all do without extra inconvenience caused by day to day running problems.

There are a number of issues that I could take issue here (I can’t remember seeing a poster advertising “short term pain” anywhere on the network for one), but the truth is that I need to get over it. My wife told me so.

Reaction to the emergency Budget

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Let us know your reaction by commenting below or emailing jamie.carpenter@haymarket.com

Tuesday: Ruth Reed, Royal Institute of British Architects president said: "A commitment to maintain capital spending is very encouraging, and we endorse George Osbourne’s view that this should protect the most productive public sector investment.

"Throughout the recession, we’ve been emphasising and demonstrating that well-designed, sustainable buildings can help achieve this goal. Money spent on well-designed schools, housing and hospitals is money well spent, with tangible value. The Government must continue to invest in vital infrastructure projects, and recognise the importance of these projects to the construction industry and the UK’s long-term economic interests. "

National Housing Federation said: "Plans to build around 250,000 homes could be axed as a direct result of the cuts. The Federation warned the nation’s affordable housing crisis will plumb new depths as a result – with housing waiting lists already standing at a record 4.5 million.

"Thousands of jobs in construction and related fields could also be lost or not be created."

ippr north said: "ippr north welcomes the commitment by the Chancellor George Osborne to invest in transport infrastructure in the Northern regions and connect those living in deprived areas to jobs in the wider city-regions. Significant questions remain however, about the relative merits of replacing regional development agencies with Local Enterprise Partnerships. The structure of these organisations is perhaps less important than how much power they have to actually make real changes in their area. This issue also needs to be approached region by region if we are going to see results."

16.52 Dermot Finch, chief executive of the Centre for Cities, said: "The coalition Government clearly recognises the need for more enterprise and growth in cities outside the Greater South-East in the Emergency Budget. As George Osborne mentioned in his Budget speech, between 1998 and 2008, for every private sector job generated in the North and Midlands, ten were created in London and the South.

“Measures announced today like the 3 years employer NICs holiday for businesses outside the Greater South-East are likely to be a short term boost but won’t be enough to bridge the jobs gap affecting many of England’s cities. All eyes now will be on the White Paper on sub-national growth to be released later in the summer, with more detail on the role of Local Enterprise Partnerships in rebalancing the economy. In this, we’d like to see more on how the Government can support the expansion of buoyant cities across the country – where high growth businesses are already adding large numbers of private sector jobs.”

16.45 Phil Holt, a partner in Deloitte’s public sector practice, commenting on the announcement in the Government’s emergency Budget to abolish RDAs and establish local enterprise partnerships, said: “The key issue is giving serious thought to what functions can be taken on successfully at a local level - physical regeneration, local infrastructure, possibly tourism, but some will be delivered more efficiently and effectively at a 'wider than local authority scale'. The local enterprise partnerships will need to give the flexibility for the 'what' and the 'how' in this space to be determined locally.

“What is clear though is that there is going to be some serious transitional work required no matter what models follow, given the assets, contracts, and other funding commitments that the RDA's have committed to.”

16.17 Just had this statement through from the British Urban Regeneration Association (Bura): "We welcome the commitment to fairness but we want to see this worked through in more detail to look at how the most deprived areas can grow in the future, in addition the commitment to not cut public capital investment further is a positive move. However, we need to understand what the further "fundamental review" of capital projects might mean, for example, does this mean that some will be stopped to enable others to go ahead?

"Bura supports the commitment that all parts of the UK will benefit from economic growth and approve of the creation of the regional growth fund as well as the focus on local economic partnerships.

"We look forward to working with the Government on developing these proposals into a clear and coherent approach to the regeneration of our towns and cities, especially in the white paper planned for the summer on sub-national growth.

"We have already set out the key actions that we think government needs to take. There is more to be done on developing how a more locally based strategy for regeneration will work - linking a simplified spending regime, local revenues and housing and planning.

"Bura plan to join in the Government's open and transparent Spending Review, urging that we need better understanding of how the impact of decisions across government will impact on our towns and cities."

16.01 Anna Turley, acting director of think-tank the New Local Government Network, said: "NLGN welcomes the Government’s commitment to support private sector enterprise and investment in regions that are particularly reliant on the public sector. These areas will face significant challenges as funding is reduced over the course of the next parliament. As part of this, we are glad to see that the Government is committed to progressing a number of key local and regional transport projects, and to introducing a Regional growth Fund to facilitate capital projects."

15.59 Child Poverty Action Group’s head of policy, rights and advocacy, Imran Hussain, said: “This is a disappointing budget for child poverty and increases the risk of the government failing to meet its 2020 goal of ending child poverty.

“There are nearly 4 million children living in poverty. A budget that fails to bring that number down is, at best, a do-nothing budget not a progressive budget. The increase in VAT is a regressive measure which will impact hardest on poor families."

15.39 The Association of British Credit Unions (Abcul) has expressed its disappointment at the decision announced by the Government in today’s emergency Budget to cancel the extension of the Saving Gateway. Mark Lyonette, Chief Executive of Abcul, said: “Over 100 credit unions had already put in place plans so that they could start delivering the new savings product next month. They were looking forward to helping more low income consumers get the saving habit. It is disappointing that the Government should cancel this at the last minute."

15.31 Commenting on today’s Budget, Mark Goodwin, RICS director of external affairs, said: “RICS welcomes the government’s decision not to reduce capital spending beyond the cuts announced in the March budget. The construction industry is a powerful engine of growth, and we had emphasised in our emergency budget submission that any further cuts in capital spending would have undermined the tentative economic recovery."

15.20 Hilary Satchwell, director of Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design, said:
“The real issue for regeneration is that the full effect of today’s Budget will take months to work through, bringing further uncertainty at a time when clarity and quick decision-making are needed.

“While we’re told capital programmes will not be cut further, it is the impact of already announced cuts to public spending, and in particular the programmes that rely on the skills of the private sector, that isn’t yet clear – many major projects have no idea whether they will be axed and the autumn spending review is more than three months off. In the meantime money is being wasted on projects that may have no real chance of delivery."

15.17 Keith Burge, vice-chair at the Institute of Economic Development, said: "There is concern at the 25 per cent cut in departmental spending, but we may have to wait until the comprehensive spending review before we find out exactly where the cuts will be made. We would hope the Government would engage in dialogue with organisations such as the IED in order to ensure any cuts are judicious."

15.11 Lord Falconer, chair of the Thames Gateway London Partnership, said: "We hope that the new announcement of a regional freeze on employer’s contributions to National Insurance for new businesses outside of London and the South East is not an indicator that the new government is looking to support investment and growth elsewhere in the country at the expense of London and the South East.

"Our concern is that today’s announcement could be seen to suggest that London and the South East does not need support of its own. Our area does not exist in a vacuum, and experiences its own problems with significant population growth, unemployment and access to employment."

15.02 Think-tank the Centre for Local Economic Strategies says that there remains a strong argument for investment in regeneration and economic development following the Budget: "The desire by the Government to boost the private sector and create “more balanced” economies does provide a strong argument for local authorities to continue to support economic development and regeneration. Local economic development will play an important role in helping to stimulate new private sector investment and enterprise, as well as mitigating the impacts of public sector disinvestment and ensuring that the jobs are there to regenerate the economy."

15.01 Steve Wyler, director of umbrella body the Development Trusts Association, said: “There already exist many hundreds of enterprising community organisations with potential to play a much bigger role in creating resilient and aspirational communities. If the spending cuts fall on such organisations they will throw out the Big Society baby with the cost cutting bathwater.”

14.49 Campaign for Better Transport executive director Stephen Joseph said: “We’re pleased that the Government is giving the go-ahead to improving good public transport in places like Sheffield and Manchester. But our own research suggests that the 25% cuts being called for from transport will mean that public transport services will suffer, and lead to vital road-safety and maintenance budgets also being squeezed.

“A lot of the hard choices will now have to take place in the spending review over the summer. The choices made in the review need to make sure we have ‘smarter cuts’ that get rid of costly legacy road-building projects and make what we’ve got work better.”

14.25 Jonathan Riley, planning partner at Pinsent Masons LLP, said: "The regional growth fund seems aimed narrowly at business and employment programmes, leaving regeneration to the private sector. Any successor bodies to the abolished RDAs will almost certainly be limited to administering that fund. Whilst there might be broad support for named regional transport schemes, in view of the savage cuts so far there can be no confidence that those schemes will be delivered unscathed."

14.13 Commenting on the chancellor’s proposals that employers National Insurance contributions should be higher in the South-East than other parts of the country, Andrew Finney , leader of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Chair of the South East Diamonds for Investment and Growth, said: “We appreciate the Government’s desire to encourage growth outside the south east, but this ill thought through tax on geography stacks the odds against the small businesses we’re depending on for recovery. We need the Government to invest in success, not just tax it, or there’s a real risk the recovery will stall.”

John Lamb of Southend Borough Council, Chair of Regional Cities East, added: “This is a slap in the face for our entrepreneurs who face an even stiffer up hill struggle from now on. The greater south east is the only part of the country to make a net contribution to the Treasury so this unjust tax will hit the very businesses this country depends on for economic growth. Where is this being fair? All new businesses should be on a level playing field.”

14.03 Toby Blume, Urban Forum chief executive: "For all the talk of ‘fairness’, an initial assessment of the emergency Budget is that it appears likely to hit poor people very hard. Raising VAT, rather than raising income tax, is deeply regressive and disproportionately affects poorer households. Similarly, a freeze on Child Benefit, rather than means testing it, appears at odds with the ‘we’re all in this together’ rhetoric.

"Everyone knew the Government faced some terribly difficult decisions, but the Budget’s impact is likely to place tremendous strain on the demand for the services of charities and community groups. The levy on banks is welcome, as is the increase in the income tax threshold, but the bank tax is expected to raise only £2bn per year - a drop in the ocean when set against the systemic risk banks pose, the profits they’ve generated and the size of the recent bailout.

"George Osborne’s statement that ‘people at the bottom of the income scale will pay proportionately less than people at the top’ seem to be at odds with the measures announced today, though we’ll need to assess the detail before coming to any final conclusions."

13.34 Liz Peace, British Property Federation chief executive, says the move to reduce the housing benefit bill is "long overdue". She says: “We have long said that housing payments need to again be made directly to landlords to avoid the money being taken by tenants and spent on other things. In introducing a cap on housing expenditure, it is vital that claimants in more expensive areas of the country are not sidelined and forced out of homes they have lived in for years. This would create more problems than it would solve, as it is vital that we do not end up creating more ghettos or forcing people to travel miles to work.”

Rolling live blog: emergency Budget

CLICK REFRESH TO UPDATE

13.26 It is a "progressive Budget" says Osborne. He announces a £150 increase in the child element of the child tax credit. The policies in the Budget will not increase child poverty over the next two years, Osborne says.

13.23 Income tax personal allowance threshold raised by £1,000 - this was heavily trailed. Osborne says that the move will take 880,000 people out of tax altogether.

13.18 The Government will help town halls freeze council tax for one year from next April, says Osborne. VAT main rate up to 20 per cent, he says, to jeers from the opposition.

13.17 Osborne sets out support for regions dependent on public sector. He says that upgrade of Tyne and Wear Metro will go ahead, as will extension of Manchester metrolink and the revamp of Birmimgham New Street station. He says that a regional growth fund will be created. He also says that a new tax scheme will, in regions outside London, South-East and East of England, make new firms exempt from paying up to £5K of national insurance contributions for each of the first 10 employees. 400,000 new firms will benefit, says Osborne. The chancellor adds that a white paper on rebalancing the economy will be published later this year.

13.11 Osborne announces five year plan to reform corporation tax system. Says that the reform will provide a stable and consistent platform for private sector recovery.

13.09 You can also follow our Budget coverage over on Twitter - @regenerationUK

13.04 Osborne says that housing benefit costs are out of control. He says that the local housing allowance will be reset and restricted. The Government will for the first time introduce maximum limits on housing benefit, he says. These welfare savings will save £11 billion by 2014/15, according to Osborne.

13.01 Osborne says that over 150,000 families earning over £50K receive tax credits. "The country cannot afford this anymore," he says. Tax credits will be focused on those who need them most, he says. He says that the Government will abolish health in pregnancy grant, will restrict Sure Start maternity grant and will not extend Savings Gateway. Child benefit will be frozen for three years, Osborne says.

12.57 Osborne says that it is not possible to deal with the budget deficit without lasting reform of welfare. The Government will increase incentives to work and reduce incentives to stay out of work.

12.55 Osborne says that public sector pay will be frozen for two years. The lowest paid - those earning less than £21K - will be excluded from this, he says. They will get a flat rate rise of £250 a year.

12.52 Unprotected departmental budgets - including DCLG - face an average real terms cut of 25 per cent over four years, says Osborne.

12.49 There will be no further reductions in capital spending, Osborne says. He says that projects with a significant economic return will be prioritised. However, Osborne suggests that spending cuts of £30 billion a year by 2014/15 compared with Labour plans.

12.44 Bulk of deficit reduction will be from lower spending rather than higher taxes, says Osborne. He suggests a 77%-23% split.

12.42 Osborne says that unemployment rate is forecast to peak this year, then fall for the next four years. He says that there will be no growth unless the Government deals with the UK's debts.

12.39 Macro-economic stuff at the moment. Hopefully we'll have some regeneration-related news for you shortly.

12.37 This is the "unavoidable Budget", says Osborne.

12.35 Osborne up. Says Budget is "tough but fair". Will support an "enterprise-led recovery" and protect most vulnerable in society.

12.31 Chancellor to speak any time now. According to BBC, statement to be detailed and longer than an hour.

11.51 We should also learn today about the fate of £610 million of Homes & Communities Agency funding. The money had been earmarked for the HCA's housing pledge from departmental underspends by the former Labour government. But the HCA has been told that the cash can no longer be regarded as secure. "The situation won't become clear until the 22 June Budget," Kerslake told us. Given Danny Alexander's comments about underspends last week - he said that he would cancel at least £1 billion of commitments where there isn't money to pay for them - the HCA must be worried.

11.41 We will be sending out a special emergency Budget news bulletin later today, looking in depth at how it will impact on the regeneration sector. Anyone who has already signed up to our Daily Bulletin will automatically get it delivered to their inbox. If you don't already receive our bulletins, sign up - for free - here.

11.35 Look out for indications on capital budget spend. Will coalition stick with Labour's plans to reduce it from 3.6% of GDP to 1.3% by 2014?

11.20 We're expecting lots of bad news, but will there be any good news? Will the chancellor say anything about tax increment financing? Will there be any changes announced to empty rates?

11.05 What regeneration practioners can expect from today's emergency, according to today's newspapers.

9.40 George Osborne will become the first Conservative chancellor to deliver a Budget since Ken Clarke when he steps up at 12.30 today.

Get all the reaction to regeneration-related news in the emergency Budget here. We will also be covering it as it happens at twitter.com/regenerationUK

And in the meantime, here is some idea of what to expect.

Emergency budget rumour round-up

New chancellor George Osborne will deliver his first Budget tomorrow at 12.30. We already know that Osborne will deliver some pretty painful news - he told the Andrew Marr show yesterday that failure to tackle the budget deficit would leave the country on the "road to ruin". But what news should regeneration practitioners expect from the chancellor? We've sifted through the weekend's newspapers to find out.

• The Budget will offer new firms in Britain's run-down regions a £900 million tax break to hire workers, reports the Guardian. The newspaper says that the chancellor will seek to temper his austerity package by saying that any company set outside London, the South-East or the East of England will not have to pay employer National Insurance contributions for its first year in business.
• Council tax is to be frozen for a year under proposals in tomorrow's Budget, says the Daily Mail. It says that the chancellor will tell MPs that the Government will work with local authorities in England to deliver the freeze. But local authorities have already been asked to make substantial savings in the current financial year by the chancellor, so the plan will raise concerns that the budgets of town halls will be squeezed even more.
• High street retailers are bracing themselves for a big rise in VAT in tomorrow's Budget. Retailers warn that a rise could stop the economic recovery in its tracks. A spokesman for the British Retail Consortium said: "We don't want to see an increase because it will be damaging to spending, to jobs, GDP and the pace of recovery."

We'll be live blogging on the emergency Budget tomorrow. Forward your reaction to the chancellor's announcements to jamie.carpenter@haymarket.com and we'll do our best to feature your comments.

Is 'Barclays Cycle Hire extreme' coming to a street near you?

London's new cycle hire scheme - Barclays Cycle Hire - will launch at the end of next month and mayoral agency Transport for London has released a video to guide people through the process of hiring a bike through the initiative. The first docking station for the scheme was installed earlier this week. TfL says that 6,000 bikes will be available to hire through the initiative from 400 docking stations in London's Zone 1 area.

But the mayor will no doubt be hoping that the scheme will fare better than Paris' Velib cycle hire initiative, which was launched in July 2007. Last year it was reported that over half of the scheme's original fleet of 15,000 bicycles had disappeared, presumed stolen. Some bikes were found hanging from lamp posts, dumped in the River Seine, or even torched and broken into pieces. Others have turned up in eastern Europe and Africa, according to reports.

The Paris bikes have also fallen victim to a craze known as "Velib extreme". Youtube videos show riders taking the bikes into metro stations and being tested on BMX courses. It remains to be seen how the Barclays Cycle Hire bikes will stand up to this sort of treatment.

The Big Society 'ecosystem' - Nat Wei's maiden Lords speech

Nat Wei, the newly appointed peer and government adviser on the Big Society agenda, yesterday gave his maiden speech to the House of Lords.

In it, he attempted to explain exactly what is meant by the phrase 'big society' - which was reported to have confused even senior Tory officials tasked with selling the idea to voters. Wei, a former McKinsey consultant who co-founded Teach First, an education charity that places top graduates on two-year teaching stints in deprived, inner-city schools, said of the Conservatives' flagship idea for social reform: "The Big Society describes a set of policies to give more powers to people closer to where they live, help increase the capacity and resources of civil society to take up such powers and encourage a sense of collective progress and momentum, since it can be hard to 'bowl alone'."

He added that the Big Society reflected the fact that "civil society is now, more than ever, being asked about what role it wants to play in shaping our collective social future, in driving long-term [social] change and solving entrenched problems. ... It is a widespread topic of debate for the first time in generations."

Wei then went on to compare Big Society to a coral reef - I'm not sure whether this makes the concept easier to understand, and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that.

"The Big Society policies are about nurturing an ecosystem. I describe this [ecosystem] as the Big Society coral reef ... it combines the seabed, which is the bedrock of our public services - to protect the vulnerable - and then the coral, which is represented by the many current and future providers of those services. Last but not least is the fish that feed in these waters, the local citizen groups that can extend, vivify and shape this landscape in ambitious, as well as humble, ways. No single part of this landscape can or should dominate, but by working together it comes to form a whole that is more than the sum of its parts."

All clear then?

The problem is that one of the main criticisms of the Big Society agenda is that it is too "woolly" and lacking in substantial, realistic policies. Does Wei, in using the coral reef image - however 'nice' it is - risk sowing further confusion?

Poll result: Readers split on supermarket role

More than 200 readers have taken part in our poll on which supermarket has the best track record in regeneration, with nearly a quarter voting in favour of Tesco while just under a fifth of respondents picked Sainsbury's.

But more than one-third of readers said that neither Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, Morrison's had the best track record in regeneration. Ten per cent voted "other".

Readers voted on both our blog and our parent site, regen.net.

Commenting on our blog, Rob Weaver said: "Putting empirical evidence to one side I really struggle to see how 'regeneration' and 'supermarkets' can be viewed as related concepts.

"Surely everyone 40+ can remember what the UK was like before the rise of the hypermarkets. In those days there were locally owned and managed shops on most housing estates, not to mention town centres. Go into every town in Britain now and you will see Tesco Expresses at major junctions on ring roads as a kind of advance landing party before the big store 'invades' the centre. "

Nik Potter commented: "Why on earth is the Co-Operative not listed!? Not only do they tend to have stores right in the midst of deprived areas, they employ local people!"

Here are some more comments from readers on the poll. Please add your thoughts on the debate in the comments section below.

Net gain: the role of public art in regeneration

Has Ray "Robocop" Mallon gone soft?

Speaking at the unveiling last week of Anish Kapoor's and Cecil Balmond's vuvuzela-shaped Temenos sculpture, the Middlesbrough mayor, whose zero tolerance policy has had some success in reducing crime, said such public artworks were about nothing more complicated than "making people feel good".

"Flowers make people smile," he said. "So do pieces of art."

Later on, Kapoor - who has also designed a proposed Olympic Park sculpture, was also enthusiastic about the role of public art doing public good.

"Quality is everything, but on the whole public art works seem to function amazingly effectively, and there are lots and lots of examples, from the so-called Bilbao Effect, to spaces like the Rockefeller Center in New York or the Millenium Park in Chicago and the Tate Modern in London ..." he said.

"Public art does something to our sense of what we are, who we are, why we are - and those things are not without effect. They bring a sense of belonging and place."

Kapoor also said he'd been told that land values in the Middlehaven regeneration site have gone up by 30 per cent in the last five years, partly as a result of the sculpture. (Listen to the Audioboo with Kapoor here.)

Temenos already seems to belong at Middlehaven Dock. Though longer than a Boeing 747 and taller than Nelson's Column - it makes the Angel of the North look piddly - it complements, rather than dominates, the busy industrial landscape it inhabits. (Don't take my word for it - listen to the views of an expert.) Its scale is not overbearing, the sculpture's net of stainless steel cables seemingly shifting in the winds like the smoke stacks rising from the cooling towers behind it.

It is a fitting advertisement for Mallon and Kapoor's view of the regenerating role of public art.

They said it: The Labour leadership candidates on regeneration

We now know the names of the five candidates vying to replace Gordon Brown as leader of the Labour Party. But what are their views on regeneration? We’ve scoured the web to find out.

David Miliband – ‘More power to the people’
Miliband senior has experience of local government and regeneration from his time working alongside former deputy prime minister John Prescott at the old Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now CLG). In a 2006 speech as local government minister, Miliband set out his “double devolution” plans to rebalance the relationship between the state and the third sector. The idea involved “devolving power from Whitehall to the town hall, and from the Townhall to citizens and local communities”. At the ODPM, Miliband considered the idea of introducing Scots-style community-right-to-buy legislation in England.

Andy Burnham – ‘Culture-led regeneration is most durable’

Former culture secretary Andy Burnham spoke of the role of culture in regeneration after Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture. In a speech at the start of 2009 on the lessons of Liverpool’s stint as culture capital, Burnham said: “Regeneration led by culture and cultural projects can be the most successful and durable.” He continued: “Ten years ago, the ‘Bilbao model’, a notion that culture could lead the regeneration of a run-down former industrial area, was a somewhat untested idea and seen as fanciful by some. Now we have countless examples across the country from Hay-on-Wye to Folkstone, from Brighton to the Manchester International Festival.”

Dianne Abbott – ‘Olympics must benefit East London residents'

Hackney MP Dianne Abbott has voiced fears that

the potential for the 2012 Olympic Games to boost jobs and skills will not be realised, leaving the people of the East End "like children pressing their noses against a window". In 2008, she told the BBC: "Sadly, it seems to me that the reality does not match the talk. It does not match what people have been promised, the number of jobs that will be created or the billions of pounds of public money that have been invested in the Olympics." Writing in the Guardian earlier this year, Abbott said that the proportion of local workers employed on the Olympic Park was still too low. "If the government had the courage to insist on higher levels of local labour being employed on the Olympic park, that in itself would raise ethnic minority employment levels in London," she said.

Ed Balls - 'More powers for cities and regions'

In 2000, Ed Balls - then the chief economic adviser to the Treasury - gave a speech to the Core Cities group. The former schools secretary told a conference in Sheffield that poverty and disadvantage should be tackled in a "bottom-up" way through equipping mainstream services to become the "main weapons against deprivation", through giving local services greater flexibility to work together, and by involving local communities in deciding the services that are provided for them. Six years later, Balls, then economic secretary to the Treasury, backed the devolution of more powers to the local and regional level. In a speech, he argued that it would be a mistake to "suggest that we have to choose between new powers for cities or local government on the one hand, and the current structure of regional and local economic decision-making on the other".

Ed Miliband - 'Community assets can kick-start change'

Miliband junior, most recently energy and climate change secretary, began his ministerial career as a popular minister for the third sector. In 2007, Miliband gave a speech setting out how he believed the community ownership of assets can help kick-start change in communities. He said that the community ownership of assets can give third sector organisations financial stability, adding: "But it is also that it brings people together, with good public or voluntary sector spaces where people can gather. And when you bring people together, things start to happen."

Pictures: World Economic Forum; Charlie MacDonald; News Team International; Mark Turner.

Live blog: Reaction to local government and transport funding cuts

17.10 One interesting bit of news from today's announcement is that the ring-fence has been removed from nearly £240m of housing market renewal funding. We'd be interested to hear whether pathfinders are worried about this. Pauline Davis, Hull City Council’s strategic director with responsibility for housing investment and renewal, including the Gateway HMR programme, said: “The removal of the ring-fence offers opportunities for greater flexibility. The council is committed to the priorities outlined in its Local Investment Plan, which describes an integrated, long-term strategy for the regeneration of the city. This plan has been developed from the bottom-up following extensive consultation with local communities, has been endorsed through the Council’s decision making processes and is enshrined in a number of area action plans across the city’s strategic regeneration areas."

17.04 Sir Jeremy Beecham, leader of the Local Government Association's Labour Group, has hit out at the coalition's decision to cut the Working Neighbourhood Fund by around 10 per cent in 2010/11. “Cameron’s claim that ‘we are all in this together’ has today been exposed as a sham. By choosing to cut a grant that is targeted at councils in areas with high levels of deprivation, the Lib Dem-Tory Coalition has shown it is all too willing to let the poorest shoulder the greatest burden. The Government has taken the first opportunity to slash funding for services on which vulnerable people depend."

16:36 The Royal Town Planning Institute has criticised the Government's decision to axe the Housing and Planning Delivery Grant. Matt Thomson, head of policy at the RTPI, said: "Cutting the entire Housing and Planning Delivery Grant will hinder councils making plans. The grant has been used by many local authorities to increase their ability to engage with communities and undertake research, both of which are key government objectives. It is essential that councils are motivated to produce sound plans. Strong visions are needed for the future of places as an essential part of attracting inward investment for economic recovery."

15.53 Stephen Nicol, managing director of Regeneris Consulting, writes below: "Rapid decisions about spending cuts in a matter of a few months do not make for sensible decisions about local transport investment going forward. Local authorities will have to hope that this freeze on decisions is just that and that sensible, value for money schemes can still go ahead. But I would not bet on it."

13.07 Looks like Housing and Planning Delivery Grant, Local Authority Business Growth Incentive scheme and the LAA reward grant will have no money at all this financial year.

12.25 Campaign for Better Transport executive director Stephen Joseph said: "There was always the danger that rushing to cut spending for this financial year would lead to cuts that were easy rather than cuts that are right. The cuts to the integrated transport block, to road safety and to Kickstart bus funding, and the standstill on all other local transport schemes, will hit communities and safety. They will lead to false economies and will mean higher costs in the next few years when we have to repair the damage caused.”

12.22 Communities secretary Eric Pickles has today outlined how £1.2 billion of savings in local government spending will be achieved. Transport secretary Philip Hammond has also announced today that he has suspended all local transport schemes which are not yet contracted. Follow the sector's reaction to the announcements here.

Poll update: Supermarkets and 'postcode stigma'

In our current poll, we're asking you which supermarket chain has the best track record in regeneration.

A look at the voting so far sees a split between Tesco, Sainsbury's and 'none of the above' - the latter suggesting that some of you think supermarket chains are not generally a force for good in deprived communities.

That's not the view of Max Wind-Cowie, head of the Progressive Conservatism Project at think-tank Demos and author of a report published yesterday - we covered it here - on the positive impact that supermarkets can have in regenerating deprived communities. Last night's The World Today programme on Radio 4 had Wind-Cowie and Andrew Simms, a critic of big supermarkets and author of Tescopoly, debated the issue - listen here (the discussion on supermarkers starts 38min 30 sec into the programme).

In case you can't be bothererd to listen, here's a brief summary of their arguments. Wind-Cowie sees social capital benefits in supermarket developments - for him, a big brand can help overcome the "postcode stigma" attached to deprived areas, "normalising" them.

Simms sees such an approach as regeneration being "done" to communities, not "by" communties - a criticism we often hear at Regeneration & Renewal HQ. More concretely, he thinks supermarket chains have a "net destruction" effect on jobs and act as "economic vacuum cleaners" that take money away from communities.

The topic has also been debated in today's papers here and here - both from the Guardian, neither of them very positive on the role of supermarkets. And there's been some interesting comment on our blog - read it here.

Let us know where you stand by commenting below and voting in the poll at the top of this blog.

Poll: Which supermarket has the best track record in regeneration?

"Big supermarkets aren't the enemy of a Big Society."

That's the starting point of a report released today, titled Civic Streets, from think-tank Demos. (Read our news story here.) The report concludes that the presence of high street brands is a "game changer" in regenerating deprived neighbourhoods. It also says that supermarkets can transform how people feel about where they lived.

That might come as news to design watchdog the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, which has expressed its concern over retail-led mixed use schemes that it sees as prioritising the functions of the store rather than making the it "a credible part of town."

We want to know which side of the aisle you stand on. Do you welcome the fact that supermarket chains have become major regeneration players? And if so, which ones do you think are the most effective? Or do you see them as, say, blood-sucking vampires draining the very life out of our high streets?

Please comment below and take a second to vote in our poll at the top right of this blog.

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In our previous poll, now closed, 84 percent of respondents (141 votes) said they thought that cuts to regeneration funding would affect jobs at their organsiation. Thirty-nine percent anticipate "extensive job losses"; 44 percent think there will be "some job losses". Thank you for voting.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/fstorr/

Property professionals hit the right note

Ahead of the excitement of the weekend's finale of Britain's Got Talent and the red carpet glitz of the Bafta awards, leading lights from the UK property industry took part in an event that was every bit as showbiz. The Party Near the Park event, attended by 1,000 property professionals, took place last week and was organised by LandAid, the charity of the UK property industry.

At the event, big hitters from the property industry took part in a Stars in Their Eyes-style singing competition, bidding to win text votes from the audience. We are informed that highlights of the event included Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation (pictured above, right) and her "Weather Girls" belting out a rendition of "It's Raining Men" and the event's first ever rap, performed by Mike Slade from developer Helical Bar along to "Lady Marmalade".

Other performers included Tony Giddings, executive director of King's Cross Central developer Argent (pictured right), who sang "Out of Time" and commercial property developer and Secret Millionaire star Nick Leslau (pictured below, left).

The contest was won by a collaboration between David Erwin of Cushman & Wakefield, Philip Marsden of King Sturge, David Raven of Jones Lang Lasalle and Stewart Colderick of CB Richard Ellis, who performed "Tubthumping" by Chumbawumba. Peace and her Weather Girls were a close second place.

Jon Siddall, chief executive of LandAid, said: "By raising well over £50,000 we will be able to help even more disadvantaged young people to rebuild their lives by providing a network of dedicated learning facilities across the country in 2010."

For more pictures of the event, click here.

Features editor's Overground ordeal

Journalists are known for their cynicism. We can't help it - we just get fed too much crap for it to be any other way. But when it came to the improvements to the London Overground - formerly known as the Silverlink - I was prepared to suspend my normal negativity.

Okay, my normal route into work was going to be closed down for three months, I reflected in January. No matter that I'd have to go by the tube and pay twice as much thank you very much Boris for the priviledge. No, I was reassured by the promises that the new Overground experience would be a new improved service - faster, more regular, more reliable.

More fool me. Okay, I missed the first day of the new service due to the fact that I was due in Barnsley for a story. But the last three days have been enough to cast me back into cynical oblivion. A short extract from my diary follows...

Wednesday

Got to the station on time and walked over the new white bridge. Felt grateful that I wasn't disabled as the promised new lifts were still fenced off. Also grateful that the train appeared pretty much on time.

Left Willesden Junction heading south - all good! Train stopped in the middle of nowhere and was told that this is because of a red light – well, of course.

After 10 minutes the 'red light' announcement had been repeated twice. Arrived at work half an hour late and with an unhealthy blood pressure. Left work to get my train and arrived at the station to discover that all my trains had been suspended. Retreated to tube with bit clamped between my teeth.

Thursday

Arrived at the station early in hope of making it to work before my colleagues start creating unholy din only to discover that the Overground was running to a new timetable. When did the timetable change? "Oh, five minutes ago," replied an official on the platform. Turned out that the train would take me to Willesden but only stop at two stations on the way there - pity the poor sods who want to get off at any of the stations normally served by the line.

One stop on we arrived at Camden and it became blatantly clear that none of the passengers had been told of this plan. The doors open, an announcement was made about where the train was headed and 90 per cent of the passengers swore to themselves, got off and found an official to assault. Eventually made it to Willesden only to discover that the link south wouldn't be for another 20 minutes.

Called [deputy editor] Jamie and swore a lot. Smoked two cigarettes.

Left work at 5.25 to get Overground to a drinks meeting with a contact. Joy! I got there on time. Gossiped a lot about how rubbish London Overground is - to much agreement from adjoining tables.

Friday

Arrived at the station on time to be told that due to a faulty train there were delays on the line, but that the Clapham Junction service would be along soon. This turned out to be true, but having arrived at Willesden Junction and sat stationary for five minutes, the electronic display boards inside the carriage started showing that the train was now bound for Richmond, which caused a bit of confusion on the train as no announcement had been made. Indeed, while we’d been idling on the platform, an electronic voice had continued to reassure us that this was the Clapham Junction service. It would appear, however, that in the world of London Overground the electronic display board is king, because staff on the platform began agreeing with it.

Off we got to wait for another train. When the Clapham Junction service did eventually pull out (late, obviously) in ground to a halt about 400 metres down the track, where we again waited for 10 minutes because we were being held – I swear I’m not making this up – at a red signal.

I promise not to bore readers with any more of this next week. I have, however, written a letter asking for an explanation from London Overground. If I get a response I’ll share it with you here.

I would, however, just like to end this little rant with the following observation: the Overground service will be used to ferry visitors to the Olympic site in Stratford come 2012. The potential embarrassment is too much for this Londoner to handle.

POSTED BY ADAM BRANSON

Have your say: Was Shapps right to 'shine a light' on housing bosses' pay

Earlier this week, new housing minister Grant Shapps published a list of some 50 housing association bosses paid more than Prime Minister David Cameron, and urged them to commit to the same pay transparency as other senior executives whose salaries are paid for by the public purse. His announcement followed the new Government's decision to reveal the names of 172 civil servants earning more than the PM.

Shapps' figures, which relate to last year, showed the highest-paid housing association boss was former Anchor chief executive John Belcher. According to the figures, Belcher, who left Anchor in November, was on a package worth £391,000. David Cowans, at Places for People, earned £297,000, the list said, while at least six bosses - including Affinity Sutton's Keith Exford, Mark Rogers at Circle Anglia and David Montague at London & Quadrant - earned in excess of £200,000.

Shapps said: "This government will champion a new era of transparency by shining a bright light on how hard earned taxpayers' cash is being spent. I can see no reason why housing charities who themselves receive public funds should be exempt from this important process."

We'd like to hear your thoughts on the new housing minister's decision to name the sector's big earners. Will the move put Shapps at loggerheads with the sector? Are the housing bosses worth the money they are paid?

Let us know your thoughts by commenting below.

Dispatch: The co-operative shopping experience

As I walk back into the office from a trip to London's new cooperative foodstore The People's Supermarket, one of my colleagues asks me: "So, have you now seen the future of food shopping?" It's hard to tell without a crystal ball but, stepping inside the shop this morning, when a TV team was filming for a forthcoming Channel 4 documentary, volunteers in bright yellow T-shirts were busy unloading stock and Kate Wickes-Bull, retail consultant and co-founder of the venture, was energetically trying to sign up new members, there was certainly the unmistakable buzz of something new and exciting taking shape.

The People's Supermarket (TPS) opened on Tuesday, the brainchild of designer and urban renewal guru David Barrie, renowned chef Arthur Potts-Dawson - who helped set up and run social enterprise the Shoreditch Trust's two restaurants, Acorn House and Water House - and the aforementioned Wickes-Bull, a former commercial executive with Marks & Spencer's for 19 years.

It describes itself in its marketing pamphlets as "a social enterprise, not-for-profit co-operative" - itself admitting that the description is a "bit of a mouthful". In simple terms, it is owned and run by its members, for its members (the focus is on serving the local community but anyone can purchase stuff from there or sign up to become a member - it's not exclusive). Each member pays a non-refundable £25 annual fee and agrees to give up a minimum of four hours a month to help run the store. In return they get a ten per cent shopping discount and, for the next couple of months at least, the chance to be on TV - surely the Unique Selling Point for many?!

Even apart from this, it does seem a reasonable offer - four hours isn't much after all - but I wonder whether the team are finding it hard to recruit people willing to volunteer in a supermarket. It's hard work, for a start, and conjures up - for me at least - worrying memories of mind-numbing boredom stacking shelves in Iceland as a teenager (even if I did only do it for one night). But Wickes-Bull tells me it's not too bad - they have only had the keys to the shop for four weeks and, prior to opening, signed up amost 100 members to help them clean the place and get it ready to open. TPS had 113 members when I visited today, but needs a minimum of 300 to function as a sustainable business.

Yet so far, I have high hopes for it. Wickes-Bull is a committed and determined manager who certainly knows her stuff when it comes to marketing and the retail industry. It took a year's worth of complicated negotiations with the council, private funders, the previous owners and the landlord who owns the entire street, but against the odds these various groups backed the idea. The shop is immaculately laid-out, with high quality fresh bread, fruit and veg (sourced from farmers' markets) as well as around 2,000 different lines of mainstream supermarket produce. I bought a big bag of cherries, a bunch of bananas and a packet of gingernuts for £4, which is pretty good but not cheap enough that the shop wouldn't be commercially viable.

TPS's strength seems to lie in the fact that it is not trying to be yet another high-end, organic deli/health food shop (there are plenty of those on upmarket Lamb's Conduit Street in Holborn, Central London, where the store is situated). Instead, it aims to function as a regular supermarket, but one with competitive prices and abundant community spirit.

One volunteer, Monique, who manages the Perseverance pub over the road, says she believes that the store will prove invaluable in bringing together what she terms a very "segregated" local community. "There are some extremely wealthy residents in the surrounding area but there is also a large amount of social housing [in particular one large estate the other side of Great Ormond Street hospital]. But these different groups of people don't mix at all, and they certainly don't shop in the same places. We're hoping TPS will appeal to everyone and bring the community together," she says. She adds that there are few food shopping options in the local area for less well-off people - even the supermarket chains predominantly target rich students living in the area, she says - and TPS can hopefully plug this gap.

Meanwhile Wickes-Bull tells me that she is undertaking a recruitment drive with the council and the local tenants and residents association to try and encourage social housing tenants to become members. Already, 16 young people were recruited through the Future Jobs Fund programme.

What with the coalition government's plans to create a 'Big Society' where local communities come together to support themselves and their neighbourhood, and the increased public profile and professionalism of the cooperative sector, TPS could be bang on the money.

The People's Supermarket is located at 72-78 Lamb's Conduit Street, London WC1N 3LT

Poll update: 83% expect cuts to lead to sackings

More than 83 per cent of respondents to our latest blog poll on the impact of the Treasury's £6.2 billion of cuts are now worried about job losses. Only seven per cent think cuts will not lead to redundancies at their organisation.

Our poll closes in three days - please vote at the top of this blog.

Opinion: the unanswered questions on local enterprise partnerships

We are now nearly three weeks into the rule of the coalition government and details of the new administration’s regeneration policy are slowly emerging. One key policy measure that has already been confirmed in the coalition agreement between the Tories and the Lib Dems - and in last week’s Queen’s Speech - is the creation of local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) to replace regional development agencies (RDAs). But details on this crucial policy are thin on the ground, leaving regeneration practitioners with a raft of unanswered questions.

What do we already know about LEPs?

The coalition agreement says that the new Government will support the creation of LEPs – “joint local authority-business bodies brought forward by local authorities themselves to promote local economic development” – to replace RDAs. The agreement says that LEPs “may take the form of the existing RDAs in areas where they are popular”. Legislation to pave the way forward for LEPs is included in the Devolution and Localism Bill, announced in the Queen’s Speech last week.

However, the new Government has yet to provide any further detail on the LEPs policy. The most in-depth account of how LEPs might function was given before the election in a letter jointly written by Caroline Spelman and Ken Clarke in March, when the two senior Tories were shadow communities and business secretaries. The letter said that businesses and councils will be able to come forward with proposals for new LEPs to replace RDAs. The boundaries of the partnerships will "reflect natural economic areas", the letter said. It added that, if local authorities and businesses in a region decide that the current regional boundary reflects their local economic area and decide to form a regionally-based LEP, the Government would respect this view. It also said that at least 50 per cent of the boards of the new partnerships will be representatives from local commerce and industry and that a leading local business person will chair each LEP.

On funding, the letter said that the transition to LEPs would be "smooth", and would allow for "the appropriate fulfillment of ongoing projects, grants and contracts, including projects which also draw on EU structural funds". It is important to stress here that Spelman and Clarke are in different roles in the new coalition government (Spelman is environment secretary, while Clarke is justice secretary), so this letter may not necessarily reflect the Government's policy.

What are the unanswered questions about LEPs?

Firstly, key questions remain over the transitional process from RDAs to LEPs. At the moment, we don't know what the process will be for local authorities to decide to replace their RDA with a LEP, or who will be responsible for making the final decision. It is also unclear how soon local authorities will be able to come forward with proposals to establish LEPs, or how quickly LEPs can be formally established once they get the go-ahead. One guesstimate I've heard from a senior RDA figure for the timescale of the transition is two years.

Another unknown is how easy it will be to dismantle RDAs in areas where local authorities choose to set up a LEP that does not reflect the boundaries of their RDA. The RDAs own land and buildings and in many cases have long-term contracts with other organisations - both public and private. Quite how easy it will be to dismantle these arrangements is unclear. One possibility that has been mooted is that, should RDAs be replaced, residual bodies may remain in place for years to come. The Commission for the New Towns, for example, was not formally dissolved until 1 April 2009.

Next, there are also big questions over the funding and powers that the LEPs will have. We know already that RDAs will be stripped of their planning powers as part of the coalition government's move to abolish regional spatial strategies. But what about other key areas of the RDAs' work, such as business support and development?

And what happens to the RDAs' funding? One key area of uncertainty relates to European Regional Development Fund cash, which is currently administered by the RDAs. There are doubts over whether local authorities would have the capacity to administer this funding (which comes with a big bureaucratic burden attached) and, as RDAs are a key match funder of EU regional aid, there are concerns that structural funding may be returned to Brussels unspent. We already know that the European Commission is uneasy about the prospect of the RDAs being replaced, fearing disruption and a loss of expertise in handling ERDF cash.

These are just some of the questions raised by regeneration professionals regarding LEPs. One thing that is clear, given the public spending squeeze and last week's announcement of nearly £300 million of budget cuts for RDAs in this financial year, is that the new LEPs will have less money to play with.

jamie.carpenter@haymarket.com twitter.com/regencarpenter