Regions of England
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| Regions of England | |
| Image:EnglandRegions.png | |
The region (also known as government office region) is currently the highest tier of local government subnational entity in England.
England is divided into nine regions each containing one or more county level entities. The regions were created in 1994 by John Major's government and from 1996 have been used as England's European Parliament constituencies and as statistical NUTS level 1 regions.
Merseyside originally constituted a region in itself. In 1998 it was merged into the North West England region. [1]
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Current powers
- Main article: Regional Assemblies in England
The powers of the regions are very limited and there are no elected regional governments except for London.
Each region has a government office and a few associated institutions, including a Regional Development Agency (RDA) and an assembly. As there are no regional elections, local representatives on regional bodies are nominated by county, unitary authority and borough councils. London is a special case because it has an elected mayor and an assembly with powers in a number of policy areas.
Regional devolution
The Labour Government announced that it wished to increase the power of government at the regional level, as part of the "devolution" that led to elected assemblies in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and part of the concept of regions in the EU. The present nominated regional assemblies would be replaced by elected bodies.
Criticism
There is some strong opposition to the introduction of such assemblies, especially from the Conservative Party, but also from back-bench Labour Party MPs. Opponents of regionalism argue that instead of decentralising power from London, the new tier of government will simply take power away from county councils, and that the assemblies will be far weaker than those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. There is also resentment that the regionalisation policy is based on continental patterns of local government supported by the European Union and ignores the traditional primacy of the county system in England.
The regions themselves have also been criticised as being largely based on those devised by the UK government in the Second World War for coordinating civil defence in England, and as too reliant on compass points for names. The borders of the regions have also been criticised for being too arbitrary. For example many regions include both large urban areas and rural areas which have little in common, economically or culturally.
Specific objections include:
- the North West region is too elongated, and Cumbria should instead be associated with the geographically closer North East;
- the Eastern region is too geographically diverse - from the marshlands of East Anglia to suburbs of London in Hertfordshire; and that it has little or no historical legitimacy, unlike the smaller traditional East Anglia region.
- the South East region is too large, in terms of both population and area; or that it is too small as three counties which were previously part of it (Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, and Essex) were combined with East Anglia to create the East of England, but these counties are similar to those which were left in the South East as they are all part of the London commuter belt; or that it is inappropriate to separate it from London.
- the South West region is either too large (Gloucestershire being considered a West Midlands county by some), or too small (and that Hampshire and Berkshire should be associated with it), or just insufficiently similar to Wessex. Many also feel that this region should exclude Cornwall, which should form its own region, on historical and cultural grounds.
- the Yorkshire and the Humber region excludes the Cleveland area, traditionally part of Yorkshire and includes the Grimsby and Scunthorpe areas which have been split from their traditional county of Lincolnshire, the rest of which lies in the East Midlands region.
Other suggestions have included a new Marches region, consisting of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Worcestershire; or that Cornwall should form a region in itself.
The government is committed now to the borders of the three northern regions, but could order a review of the boundaries in the rest of the country. Recently the government has also been looking into creating regions based upon large urban areas, or so called "city regions", a concept similar to the earlier metropolitan counties created in the 1970s.
Northern England referendums, 2004
- Main article: Northern England referendums, 2004
A referendum was held in the North East region of England on November 4, 2004; in it the voters rejected the proposal that this region should have an elected regional assembly.
Similar referendums had been planned in North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber. Following the rejection of the proposal in the North East Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott ruled out holding further referenda in other regions for the forseeable future.
Other systems of regions
Standard Statistical Regions
Prior to the establishment of the 'Government Office Regions', there were eight 'Standard Statistical Regions':
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Redcliffe-Maud provinces
The Redcliffe-Maud Report produced by the Royal Commission on local government reform in 1969 recommended the creation of eight provinces. In approximate terms, these were to be :
- North East - as per North East England
- Yorkshire - as per Yorkshire and the Humber
- North West - as per North West England, excluding southern Cheshire
- West Midlands - as per West Midlands, including southern Cheshire
- East Midlands - as per East Midlands, less Northamptonshire
- South West - as per South West England
- East Anglia - Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, northern Essex
- South East - South East England and Greater London with Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, southern Essex
Britain in Bloom regions
Britain in Bloom divide England into 12 regions. They are broadly the same as the government office regions, except that Cumbria is a region in itself, and South East England into three - Thames and Chilterns, Southern England and a rump South East England.
National Trust
The National Trust has 10 regional offices in England. These are
- Devon and Cornwall - part of the official South West region
- East of England - as region
- East Midlands - as region
- North East England - North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber
- North West England - as region
- Thames and Solent - Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, London, Oxfordshire, Hampshire
- South East England - East Sussex, Kent, Surrey, West Sussex
- West Midlands - as region
- Wessex - South West England without Devon and Cornwall
See also
External links
- Boundary committee for England
- Boundary committee's map
- Regional Gateway
- Government Offices for the English Regions
- English Regions Network (English regional assemblies)
| Current structure of subnational entities in England (2005) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region level: | Region | Region | Region | Region | |
| County level: | Metropolitan county | Shire county | Unitary authority | Greater London | |
| District level: | Metropolitan district | Non-metropolitan district | n/a | London borough | |
| Parish level: | Civil parish | Civil parish | Civil parish | n/a | |
Categories: Regions of England | Politics of England | NUTS 1 Statistical Regions of Europe | United Kingdom constitution
