The Future of Regional Governance in England

1. The Future of Regional Governance in England Councillor Alan Townsend University of Durham

2. Introduction • A (the?) main theme of past RSA conferences was “UK Regional Policy” • Past significance for London in speeding up de-industrialisation and office dispersal to Regions • Now London separate from the rest of England’s weaker economies and governance • Greater London Council and the 6 Metropolitan Councils were abolished together in the 1980s, the latter were not replaced • GLC when restored was also seen as one of 9 post-1997 Regions, now annihilated, leaving rest of England with 293 separate Planning Authorities!

6. Regions of EU countries Number of regions and average population, thousands • (England 9 5777) Hungary 7 1430 U. Kingdom12 5167 Neth’lands12 1382 Slovakia 4 1356 • Germany 16 5113 Czech Rep. 8 1313 • France 22 2944 Bulgaria 6 1261 • Spain 16 2874 Sweden 8 1168 • Italy 21 2873 Finland 5 1070 • Romania 8 2683 Austria 9 931 • Poland 16 2385 Belgium 12 902 • Ireland 2 2128 Greece 13 869 • Portugal 5 2385 • EU average, excluding UK 11 2225

8. Weakness at these intermediate levels,except across states of Federal States • “Regional agencies often serve at the whim of higher level government...which can capriciously dissolve or reorganise them”(Wheeler, 2009, Regional Studies) ; no role in UK constitution • Any joint arrangements tend to be vulnerable to change over time; near-universal Council rivalry undocumented • Examples of City Region weakness: • USA’s Councils of Governments have little power • Collaboration in Randstad sporadic (Kantor, 2006) • Ile de France recently dropped plans for a Paris City Region, due to objections from mayors

9. Probable futures at the City Region scale • PERCEPTION; London politicians and journalists unaware of city regions or the former Metropolitan Counties • Little memory of Strategic Planning, for example, “Land-Use Transportation Studies”: less needed? • LEPs have pitifully few powers, BUT 3 use the title “City Region”, and Cities White Paper (12/11) plays on their data • And, to sign a “City Deal”, the 8 “Core Cities” must either have adopted a directly elected Mayor, or committed as proponent of a “Combined Authority” for their city region. • These areas could be converted to Strategic Planning in future (Peter Hall) • LEPs already involved in Transport; “in most of the world’s largest metropolitan areas, city-suburban integration is limited to a few functional areas, such as coordinated transportation” (Abrahamson, 2004)

10. Probable futures above the City Region scale • Common sense views suggest the wheel will return full circle – to Regions • Professional views exist that the logic of Maud’s Provinces is essential, at least for housebuilding • Even the present government is now proposing a (different) measure of centralism, directing some Councils’ Planning approvals • However, Labour cautious – Ed. Miliband on Assemblies Shadow Ministers talking of devolution to Councils and incentives for voluntary merger of LEPs