The government has given the green light to 24 partnerships between local businesses and councils to replace regional development agencies (RDAs).

Speaking today in parliament, business secretary Vince Cable said that 24 combinations of local authorities and private companies had successfully bid over the summer to form so-called local enterprise partnerships, which will replace RDAs when they are abolished in April 2012.

The successful bids are:

  • Birmingham & Solihull with East Staffordshire, Lichfield &Tamworth
  • Cheshire and Warrington
  • Coast to Capital: Brighton and Hove, Croydon, the Gatwick Diamond and West Sussex
  • Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly
  • Coventry & Warwickshire
  • Cumbria
  • Greater Cambridge & Greater Peterborough
  • Greater Manchester
  • Hertfordshire
  • Kent, Greater Essex & East Sussex
  • Leeds City Region
  • Leicester & Leicestershire
  • Lincolnshire
  • Liverpool City Region
  • Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Derby, & Derbyshire
  • Oxfordshire City Region
  • Sheffield City Region
  • Solent
  • South East Midlands
  • Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire
  • Tees Valley
  • Thames Valley Berkshire
  • The Marches
  • West of England

Cable, who was introducing a white paper on regional growth today, said these partnerships would be given the powers over planning, infrastructure, and inward investment. He also said he would introduce a duty to cooperate over planning between different local authorities.

Private companies up and down the UK signed up to having some involvement in local enterprise partnerships as part of the bidding process.