FEW people outside local government will be familiar with MAAs.
However, Multi-Area Agreements (MAAs) have been quietly developing for some time and the Tees Valley MAA will be one of the first in the country.
The Mayor has signed up Hartlepool for MAAs for regeneration, housing and transport.
Control of
these will pass to a board consisting of 11 members.
The five Tees Valley Local Authorities will get one seat each. The other six go to private sector representatives.
This makes a majority of the board appointed rather than elected.
Hartlepool's sole representative will be appointed by the Mayor from his cabinet.
Hartlepool's housing, transport and regeneration policies will now be set by a majority of individuals who are totally unaccountable to Hartlepool voters.
This must ring alarm bells for anyone who remembers how badly Hartlepool suffered under the control of Cleveland County.
The Tees Valley MAA, which came about because the Regional Assembly concept was rejected by the North East England electorate, could turn out to be worse.
Steve Allison,
UKIP Councillor,
St.Hilda Ward,
Hartlepool Unitary Authority.
EDITOR'S FOOTNOTE: The council points out that the alternative to these new MAAs would have seen similar agreements made at a regional rather than a Tees Valley level.The full article contains 211 words and appears in Hartlepool Mail newspaper.
