http://www.newcastlepartnership.org.uk/

For the first time, Newcastle now has its own agreement on local priorities, individually negotiated and agreed with central government. The LAA sets out what Newcastle City Council and key partners will deliver for local people and how they will collectively spend public money to do this.

Newcastle’s Local Area Agreement (LAA) has been signed-off by the Department of Communities and Local Government, providing a sound basis for implementing the proposals set out in the 2006 Local Government White Paper.

New locally agreed priorities will give councils both the stable and predictable funding they want, and the power and flexibility to meet the challenges faced by their local communities.

Local Government Minister, Phil Woolas, said:

“LAAs ensure greater clarity about central and local responsibilities. New proposals for LAAs are at the heart of our devolutionary agenda for local government – as laid out in our White Paper – they give councils the ability to tackle the most important challenges in their areas, whilst reducing the number of centrally set targets. They could for example use their LAA to tackle climate change or focus on social exclusion in their communities.”

Barry Speker, Chairman of the Newcastle Partnership, added:

“This is a great example of how partnership working can help us prioritise what matters to Newcastle. We have agreed priorities for addressing, amongst others, worklessness, health and community safety. The LAA will give us a new focus to ensure we take our agenda forward. I would like to place on record my thanks to the Newcastle Partnership Board, staff team and all of our partners for the considerable efforts required to achieve this outcome. This has come about simply because all our partners care about making Newcastle a greater city.

Work can now get underway with our partners on developing and agreeing plans on how the LAA will be delivered.”

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