Regen.net,
13 July 2007
"Communities England" is to be dropped as the moniker for the proposed housing and regeneration super quango, Regen.net can reveal.
The planned body, referred to by prime minister Gordon Brown as the "new homes agency" in his speech to parliament this Wednesday, is to be renamed to reflect the Government's increased focus on building homes.
However a spokeswoman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said that, while the planned body was now being referred to as the new homes agency, no decision had been taken to keep that as the permanent name. The spokeswoman said: "The new homes agency is a description rather than a title."
The new homes agency is being formed from the merging of regeneration quango English Partnerships, housing agency the Housing Corporation and various DCLG delivery functions, such as the housing market renewal programme.
An official briefing document on the name change, seen by Regeneration & Renewal, states the change is being made to reflect the priority now being given to new housing. It says: "it is important that the new organisation focuses on the provision of new homes as this will be the organisation's most urgent task... The name Communities England did not make this clear."
It adds: "It is because we are focussed about what the new agency will deliver that the new name came into question...the name "Communities England" did not fully encompass what the new agency will deliver."
However, the briefing states that the name change does not mean that the actual functions or proposed powers of the agency, defined in a consultation issued in June (see Regeneration & Renewal, June 22, p1), will change.
