9:44pm Monday 14th July 2008
By Anika Bourley
Building a skills base will be Bradford’s focus on a pioneering deal struck by Yorkshire city hall chiefs yesterday.
Councils from across the area last night signed a Government-backed “multi-area agreement” (MAA) to usher in a new era of co-operation across local authority boundaries.
The councils will agree to stop scrapping over funding and stand shoulder-to-shoulder, pooling power and resources to get important work done faster for the benefit of the whole area, or “sub-region”.
Bradford Cabinet member responsible for regeneration Adrian Naylor, who attended the event, said: “We want to create the environment where people want to do business. We need to predict what the economy will be in the future.
“It is about the future of Bradford and the future of our young people, getting them skills to match up with the jobs in the future. It is about driving the agenda forward and to be successful we need to work as a team.”
Under the new agreement, all 11 Leeds City Region local authorities and their partners – which include Metro (the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive), Yorkshire Forward and the Learning and Skills Council – have committed to ambitious joint targets in the provision of higher level skills and improved transport connectivity.
In turn, the Government will agree to freedoms and flexibilities to the partner authorities in these areas.
The Leeds City Region MAA is one of 14 such agreements being developed by the Government and is among the first to be signed off. It was agreed on the same day as another Yorkshire MAA, Transform South Yorkshire, which covers parts of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.
Bradford Council leader and chairman of the City Region Skills Panel, Kris Hopkins, said: “Getting to this stage is a considerable achievement but the real work is only just beginning.
“The targets relating to skills are certainly challenging but it is vital we meet them if the City Region and, in particular, its young people are to fulfil the undoubted potential we know exists.
“In collaboration with our partners, we believe the MAA provides the basis for us to make progress and deliver positive change for the residents we serve.”
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said many major issues need to be dealt with across local boundaries, including career development, transport and housing.
She said: “If they want to make a big difference, councils need to come together.
“Everyone knows that together we can achieve more than the sum of our parts. Today’s agreements – which are the first of their kind – stand as a testament to that.”
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