PGDipArch Year Two Background Study
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which has responsibility for housing, planning, transport and economic development in the North West region and is still based in Wigan. It combines council leaders from each of the five sub regions of Cumbria, Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester along with seven representatives from the private, non-governmental sector such as Manchester Airport Group, North West Universities Association and the North West Trades Union Congress. This organisation is responsible for “delivering the strategy proposals at local level in the North West.�
4NW also works in close conjunction with the NorthWest Regional Development Agency based in Warrington and together they are preparing the proposed ‘Regional Strategy for the NorthWest,
"...The strategy will promote the sustainable economic development and regeneration of the region, and 4NW will ensure it is democratically accountable and wholly relevant to the needs of this region...." Are agencies such as 4NW and NWDA models for the future development of local democracies or as Grant Shapps argues, the diluted organisations that have little power to influence everyday lives?