English Partnerships (EP) was the national
regeneration agency for
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by
regional development agencies on a
regional
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
level. On 1 December 2008 its powers passed to a successor body, the new
Homes and Communities Agency.
It was responsible for land acquisition and assembly and major development projects, alone or in joint partnership with private sector developers. It was particularly active in major regeneration areas such as the
Thames Gateway
Thames Gateway is a term applied to an area around the Thames Estuary in the context of discourse around regeneration and further urbanisation. The term was first coined by the UK government and applies to an area of land stretching east from ...
and in
expansion areas such as
Milton Keynes, where the
Deputy Prime Minister (acting as Environment Minister) removed planning from local control and appointed them as the statutory planning authority.
It was a
non-departmental public body funded through the
Department for Communities and Local Government
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local governme ...
(CLG), and was previously by the
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (the predecessor department to CLG).
Structure
English Partnerships was legally two entirely independent bodies set up under separate statutes. One was the Commission for New Towns, launched in October 1961, which was responsible for the
development corporations established by the New Towns Act 1959.
The other was the Urban Regeneration Agency set up by the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. The URA originated as the English Industrial Estates Corporation, which was "established in 1936 as North Eastern Trading Estates Ltd to help to alleviate the problems caused by the decline of heavy industries such as shipbuilding and coalmining"
[Ibid Tyne and Wear Archives]
Successor
On 17 January 2007
Ruth Kelly
Ruth Maria Kelly (born 9 May 1968) is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolton West from 1997 until she stood down in 2010. Previously, she served as the Secretary of State for Transport, ...
, the
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, announced proposals to bring together the delivery functions of the
Housing Corporation, English Partnerships and parts of CLG to form a new unified housing and regeneration agency, the
Homes and Communities Agency (initially announced as "Communities England"); this became operational on 1 December 2008.
See also
*
Millennium Communities Programme, EP initiative
*
EcoHomes
*
Neil Shields, Chairman of the Commission for New Towns 1982–1995
References
External links
Official website archived at National ArchivesHomes and Communities Agency
on CLG website
Catalogue of the Whitley Council for New Towns Staff archives
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
Housing in England
Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom
Defunct organisations based in England
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