English Partnerships
English Partnerships was the national regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by regional development agencies on a regional 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 and in expansion areas such as Milton Keynes, where the Deputy Prime 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, and was previously by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
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, and the other was the Urban Regeneration Agency set up by the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993.
On 17 January 2007 Ruth Kelly, 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 ; this became operational on 1 December 2008.
