CONSERVATIVE Euro-MP for the West Midlands, Philip Bradbourn, has added his support to David Cameron’s pledge to strip regional development agencies of their powers.

On a visit to Coventry, David Cameron detailed plans for a radical shake-up of local government, pledging to free councils from central and regional control. Mr Bradbourn, who is Local Government spokesman for the Conservatives in the European Parliament, welcomed the news saying: “Labour’s experiment with unelected quangos has been a complete mistake and the time is now ripe to devolve power from regional quangos back down to local councils.”

He added: “The major change being announced today is the effective abolition of Advantage West Midlands, the regional development agency created by Labour, which spends about £300 million of taxpayers’ money a year.

"Under a Conservative government, Advantage West Midlands would be stripped of its planning and transport powers and these handed back down to local councils.

"The money it receives will also be handed back to local councils to spend on helping local economies as they see fit.

"I am also pleased to see councils will be given the power to establish their own local enterprise partnerships to take over development functions of the RDAs.

"As a result, councils will no longer be forced to work arbitrarily across geographical boundaries that do not make sense locally.”

MEP college Malcolm Harbour, who has worked extensively on business, commerce, science and technology issues, said: "Universities and regional businesses will be able to work closely with local authorities to drive innovation, knowledge transfer and job creation in ways that are best suited to their local environment.

"We look forward to moving these plans forward as soon as David Cameron becomes Prime Minister."