Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Kimball (Conservative). It was answered on Thursday, 18 May 2006.

Local Government: County Councils

Question: My Lords, I am quite certain that the noble Baroness is genuine in her reply, but could we see some positive action? Why go on spending £18 million on the unelected regional councils in eight areas? The money is used to override the county councils’ planning decisions. The Government are taking powers away from the local people in all 34 counties and they will have to pay for it through their council tax.

Answer: My Lords, let me take the opportunity to say that no decision has been taken on local government reorganisation; it is still a very lively debate indeed. As to the noble Lord’s supplementary question, there are functions which we believe can be best exercised at a regional level—planning functions, for example, which take into the impact across a region and a sub-region of transport and housing. No powers have been taken away from local authorities in that sense, and I think that the 200 or so local Conservative councillors who serve on regional assemblies would very much support the work that they do.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 682 c369-70
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Costs County councils Local government Powers Planning Reorganisation Regional government
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk