Local area agreements
In June 2008, the five local authorities in Tees Valley signed off their
local area agreements (LAAs). These will run until March 2011. Copies of
all five LAAs can be found on the Improvement and Development Agency's website.
More general
information about LAAs
We hold regular meetings with LAA coordinators, wider delivery partners and
act as a strategic advisor to local strategic partnership (LSP) board
meetings to ensure that targets are:
- on track
- challenging
- supporting activity to make sure that they are evidence-based and well
considered.
Multi area agreement
We worked directly with the Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit,
Tees Valley Unlimited and other stakeholders to
support development of the Tees Valley Multi Area Agreement (MAA), which
was signed off by ministers in June 2008. The MAA will be subject to
review in a similar way to the LAAs and we continue to support its
delivery.
The MAA has seen the development of a stronger governance structure for
sub-regional partnership working to support delegation of funds and
decision-making sub-regionally. This includes an overarching board with
private sector chair, and four thematic sub-regional partnerships focusing
on housing, economic regeneration, transport and skills.
MAA targets include clear measurable benefits and outcomes in housing,
transport, employment, skills and carbon emissions. We are currently
working with local partners to ensure that progress is made on agreed
priorities, and we continue to challenge the city region to ensure that
economic development plans are based on sound analytical activity. We
also take a key role in coordinating activities between Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Department for
Transport colleagues within our office and central government
departments, to drive forward specific MAA targets around carbon emissions
and the reliability of the strategic road network.
Economic development, employability and participation
We work to support the improvement in economic performance, as measured by
Gross Valued Added (GVA) of the city region, by:
- improving employability
- improving participation in the labour market of disadvantaged
individuals
- ensuring improvements in education and higher skills.
We support economic assessments by local authorities and implementation of
the Sub National
Review.
Local strategic partnerships
We act as a link between each of our local authorities and Whitehall. We
attend and contribute to meetings to ensure policy messages are fed back to
the partnerships. We make sure that any concerns from our local
partnerships are given to the centre. We will encourage the spreading of
good practice ideas across the partnerships.
Sustainable community strategies and local development
frameworks
We try to make sure that LAA objectives contribute to the wider objectives
of the sustainable community strategies (SCS) of the five authorities and
that the local development frameworks and the SCS fit together. We support
the development of revisions to SCS to ensure that they will lead the
long-term transformation of localities and neighbourhoods.
Engagement with comprehensive area assessments
We have developed an effective relationship with the Audit Commission, and
support the implementation of the new
comprehensive area assessment proposals.
New Deal for Communities
The programme has now ended in Middlesbrough, but it will continue
in Hartlepool until 2011.
For more information contact:
Middlesbrough and Stockton
Hilton Heslop
0191 202 2291
hilton.heslop@gone.gsi.gov.uk
Hartlepool, Darlington and Redcar and Cleveland
Penny Marshall
0191 202 3620
penny.marshall@gone.gsi.gov.uk
