Local heroes

Regional development agencies are back. Launched amid much fanfare by deputy prime minister John Prescott in 1999, RDAs seem to have made little impact since. But now, Prescott is back in charge of housing and urban renewal and RDAs are back at the forefront of his plans for regeneration.

There are nine agencies (see map, right). Chancellor Gordon Brown's spending review boost will take their budgets from £1.6bn this year to £2bn in 2005/06. And last week, Prescott gave the RDAs more housing-related powers, announcing that they will "work closely" with regeneration quango English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation to coordinate the development of his plans for key-worker and affordable housing (see factfile below).

But can RDAs deliver? How exactly will they work with councils, other quangos, the Housing Corporation and the sector at large? Can they reconcile the differing agendas, personalities and priorities that come with the different performers now gathered under Prescott's regeneration big top, especially since they are new to housing?

As Local Government Association policy officer Tony Rich says, Brown and Prescott's plans are "all a bit vague" at the moment. The agencies' priorities are seen by some as a source of concern. RDAs are economically driven, and it is not certain whether this outlook will sit happily with their new-found social agenda. "The RDAs are seen as becoming the drivers of regional economy," Rich explains. "The lack of affordable housing, especially for key workers in the South, is being increasingly seen as a brake on the economy, so that's why this has come about."

Being business-led, RDAs often face criticism that they focus on inward investment without considering infrastructure issues. Yorkshire Forward was recently accused of not considering where the people who are employed by its economic development initiatives will actually live (HT 11 July, page 7). As Neil McInroy, policy director at the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, says: "The RDAs have been so driven towards economic development and now it's all about how they can switch to having a rich understanding of social issues, including housing."

The South East England Development Agency covers three of the areas cited by Prescott as in need of more homes: Ashford, Milton Keynes and the Thames Gateway. SEEDA chief executive Anthony Dunnett says he is pleased the government has grasped the nettle of housing in the regions, but says SEEDA's role involves more than just building homes. New developments must avoid creating "commuter ghettoes" that provide homes with no infrastructure, he warns: housing developments should be high-quality and in the areas where jobs are being created.

These agencies have different ways of working, different objectives and different ways of looking at the world, so the issue is: how do you work out a shared objective that has the commitment of all parties?

Too many cooks?
Neil McInroy is concerned that there is a plethora of organisations supposedly joining forces to deliver the new regional housing agenda. "It all sounds very nice," he says, "but there are different personalities, institutional cultures and practices involved. There will have to be strong work agreements and shared trust, which all takes time to build up. These agencies have different ways of working, different objectives and different ways of looking at the world, so the issue is: how do you work out a shared objective that has the commitment of all parties?"

But, as a former English Partnerships chief executive, SEEDA's Anthony Dunnett sees no problem with forging closer links under its new remit. In fact, SEEDA's pilot brownfield land assembly trust – which brings together the agency, councils and the Housing Corporation to identify sites for housing – could be a model for how organisations interact in the future.

Meanwhile, it is not clear how far RDAs would take on councils' planning roles and how far they would take over from the Housing Corporation. London Development Agency chair George Barlow is cautious about this: "These are my personal views, but with regard to the corporation's dual role as funder and regulator, I am old-fashioned and I think it should be retained. The more the corporation can demonstrate that it has a strong regional structure, the more effective it can be." One RDA manager says: "We as an agency would be slightly nervous around issues like suggesting we had a budget for housing that was taking money out of the hands of local authorities or taking over from housing associations – it would be a bit like saying we could do it better than anyone else."

Prescott remains adamant the RDAs he helped create will be at the forefront of his plans for housing. After his statement on the spending review, he told the House of Commons: "Housing is a matter of communities, health, transport and jobs and there will be a greater demand for housing when you associate it with economic development. RDAs and regional [planning] strategies will help us to achieve that."