You've probably not noticed a new and rather powerful body here in the North West which goes by the rather dismal trying-to-be-trendy name of "4NW".

4NW replaces the Regional Assembly which amongst other functions was the "regional planning body" that put together our "regional spatial strategy".

This is the overall regional plan which determines the development allowed in different parts of the region.

It's also replaced the old county structure plan which controlled the planning decisions of councils in Lancashire for many years.

The Assembly had about 80 members, mainly from all the county and district councils in the region, plus some people from businesses, trade unions and some other public sector bodies.

The government hoped to replace it with an elected regional assembly but that fell by the wayside after they failed to win a referendum for one in the North East.

So they pushed through a Bill last year to hand these powers over to another regional body, the regional development agencies - in our case the NWDA.

This is a regional quango which has huge influence in handing out money for development schemes to councils and the dubious "partnerships" that are taking over more and more council functions.

There was a lot of opposition to giving the unelected RDAs the power to do all the strategic planning so they invented new bodies like 4NW.

They're called Leaders' Boards and are included in the new Local Democracy Economic Development and Construction Bill that on Monday had its sixth day in committee in the Lords - that's 24 hours of gruelling line by line debate and more to come!

You might find it odd that our region already has one of these bodies, before this new legislation is passed, but that's the arrogant way government works nowadays.

There are 15 council "leaders" on this board, including the County Council and Blackburn and Darwen - but no East Lancashire districts.

It will share power with the NWDA but I doubt people round here will ever know much about what goes on at its hidey-hole by Wigan pier.

It's all, in my opinion, just another lurch towards the top-down bureaucratic corporate state that looks like being one of New Labour's main legacies.