A REGIONAL boost to jobs and enterprise has been given the thumbs-up in Bury.

Councillors have officially backed government plans to create a Regional Development Agency, as long as local people regulate it.

The agency's aim would be to attract investment and regenerate areas from Cumbria and Lancashire down to Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cheshire.

It will be monitored by an elected regional chamber with representatives from local authorities, businesses and voluntary groups.

Tory group leader, Coun David Higgin, suggested to Wednesday's council meeting that the agency should be viewed with suspicion, in being unaccountable to the public and becoming a "huge and powerful" quango taking over council functions.

But council leader Derek Boden thought that was a bit rich "coming from a party which foisted an unbelievable number of quangos onto people."

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