ABSTRACT
Greater regional devolution is often presented as an opportunity for greater experimentation, innovation and differentiation, but it does not always work out quite like that. In practice, the RDAs were inherently predisposed to adopt an approach to sustainable development which emphasised economic growth as a priority, given the mandate they were handed from central government, the main funding streams they were allocated, the people chosen to sit on their boards, and the staff whom they either recruited or inherited from the previous institutions whose activities they absorbed.
