Prescott focuses on local level in U-turn

William Green
Political Correspondent,Yorkshire Today

JOHN Prescott drove the final nail into the coffin of his regional
assembly dream yesterday - by declaring that the future of local
government lay with local residents.Instead of all-powerful regional government, the Deputy Prime Minister unveiled a plan for neighbourhoods to run their own finances, aided by "How To" booklets.
Mr Prescott's U-turn on how he believed towns and cities should be run
was immediately condemned as "tinkering" - and he was told to return
powers to existing local councils that his quangos had stripped away
over the past seven years. At the heart of Mr Prescott's blueprint for local government is a new breed of "super mayors" with new powers over transport and regeneration,
but they were also condemned for posing the risk that mavericks unable
to deliver services could be voted in. Mr Prescott, speaking at the start of a three-day "sustainable communities" conference in Manchester, said: "We want people to help
share the local public services they receive and we want them to become more involved in the democratic life of their community. "By action at a neighbourhood level people everywhere can make a significant difference to the quality of our country's public services." Mr Prescott emphasised the strategy would not be a "one-size-fits-all"
policy but would allow people to customise services to the community's needs.
He said consultations would begin on creating extra mayors with additional powers to transform major cities, although it will be up to local people to decide in a referendum whether to have one. The Government is also "attracted" to moving to whole council elections every four years and wants to strengthen the role of councils in leading
their areas. But the Tory leader of Leeds Council, Andrew Carter, accused Mr Prescott
of being unable to stop "tinkering" after last year's defeat in the North-East referendum for an elected regional assembly."If he returned some of the powers to local government that his unelected quangos have taken away in the past seven years, he would find
it would do more to restore public confidence in local government than any amount of his tinkering," Coun Carter added. The Liberal Democrat leader of York Council, Steve Galloway, warned against elected mayors with more powers because it could lead to a
maverick unable to deliver services. He backed handing more powers to neighbourhoods provided "responsibilities" went with it, to ensure money was well spent and in
line with agreed priorities. Under the Government's proposals, neighbourhoods could be given budgets and power to manage some services directly, and the right to raise extra
money for local priorities following a community vote. They could own and manage playgrounds and community centres and use "trigg-ers" to force the local council to improve failing services. A Neighbourhoods Charter will set out people's powers over the running of their community and what results they can expect. A £5m programme of "how to" guides will be produced to help local people and authorities spend resources more effectively.
william.green@ypn.co.uk