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Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I wonder whether my noble friend agrees with me on two points. We are here debating the difference between two joint authorities and where the functions lie. This is not about local councils or local democracy, but about whether local councils work together, combining their powers to work in a joint arrangement, or not. Whether it is an ITA, an EPB or some combined body is entirely up to the local authorities. As a former leader of Greater Manchester, someone who still bears the scars of the congestion charge debate there, I say that it is important that we think about transport. That is the strength of ITAs against PTEs. PTEs have fewer powers than the ITAs did because they do not have road traffic but highways traffic, which is actually taking powers from local councils. If we are getting a body that wants to look at the economic prosperity of an area, the link between transport, access to work, access to employment and all these issues is really important. As much as I loved our PTE in Greater Manchester, it concentrated on public transport. I want to ensure that we have a functioning local public transport service. There is nothing wrong with that. I do not want to worry about bus stops. One of the functions of the PTE—or the ITA, now—is to worry about the location of bus stops. That is an important matter, particularly if it wants to put one outside your House, but it is something I am happy for someone else to do. However, but if we are talking about transport strategy, its integration with the economy and the wider role of a city region, people have to see bigger pictures. That is why there may be a combined authority that takes a limited number of functions from the ITA and leaves bus stops and all the rest of it to it.