Pickles sounds death knell for leaders' boards

The Communities Secretary last week announced plans to scrap regional local authority leaders’ boards.

Eric Pickles said the boards would become redundant following the decision to axe regional spatial strategies.

He suggested that the move would put local authorities “firmly back in control” of delivering services in areas such as transport, housing and planning.

Pickles claimed it was “another step in wresting control from the bureaucrats, stopping the top down diktats and axing unelected, ineffective quangos”. This was “the nail in the coffin” of regional assemblies, he added.

Abolition of leaders’ boards will save £16m a year, the Department for Communities and Local Government estimated. The boards received £10m in funding from local authorities a year.