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

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!

Regions of EU countries Number of regions and average population, thousands (England ) Hungary U. Kingdom Neth’lands Slovakia Germany Czech Rep France Bulgaria Spain Sweden Italy Finland Romania Austria Poland Belgium Ireland Greece Portugal EU average, excluding UK

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: 1.USA’s Councils of Governments have little power 2.Collaboration in Randstad sporadic (Kantor, 2006) 3.Ile de France recently dropped plans for a Paris City Region, due to objections from mayors

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)

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