Hazel Blears has insisted she will not step in to impose multi-area agreements where councils fail to get together. Speaking at last week's Core Cities Summit, the Communities Secretary gave the green light to multi-area agreements in sub-regions across the country in order to boost jobs, investment and housing. But it then emerged that councils in the greater Nottinghamshire region had been the only ones in the country to fail to reach a deal over their MAA. Asked by the leader of Nottingham whether she was able to order an MAA if no agreement between tiers was possible she said: ‘Don't look to me to dictate what your MAA should look like. ‘There is also a danger that the core cities agenda degenerates into an urban versus rural argument.' Nottingham City Council leader Jon Collins said: ‘MAAs are currently voluntary and, unfortunately, we have reached a point where we are still yet to agree. ‘We are committed to developing proposals on a conurbation-wide MAA with our surrounding districts and would welcome the county councils' involvement in the partnership whenever they feel prepared to enter it.'
