---

Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

My Lords, I have a great deal of sympathy with the reasons for the amendment, but there is a problem. My noble friend asked what RDAs do at the end of the year when they have money. I can tell her; they say to the council, ““If you do X, you can have this money””. That has happened to us, although I should say that the interest that I declared at the beginning of the Bill’s passage is no longer the case. As of midnight last night I am no longer a Berwick borough councillor because the council has been abolished. However, in my experience on that council, that was precisely what happened. There is an issue that we all recognise about how RDAs and local councils work together, how we get accountability and how the RDAs delegate some of their money down to local authorities. I do not necessarily think that the amendment has it quite right, but this is something that we must consider seriously. It is not terribly satisfactory for the money available at the end of the year to be spent in that way.