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The regional chambers of
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
were a group of indirectly elected regional bodies that were created by the provisions of the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998. There were eight regional chambers, one for each of the
regions of England The regions, formerly known as the government office regions, are the highest tier of sub-national division in England, established in 1994. Between 1994 and 2011, nine regions had officially devolved functions within government. While they n ...
except Greater London, which had opted for an elected mayor and assembly in 1998. All eight regional chambers had adopted the title "regional assembly" or "assembly" as part of their name, though this was not an official status in law. The chambers were abolished over a two-year period between 31 March 2008 and 31 March 2010 and some of their functions were assumed by newly established Local authority leaders' boards.
Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...
has a directly elected
London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...
, which was established by separate legislation and is part of the
Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym "City Hall", is the devolved regional governance body of Greater London. It consists of two political branches: the executive Mayoralty (currently led by Sadiq Khan) and t ...
.


Role

Their original defined role was to channel
regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
opinions to the business-led regional development agencies. Their role later included scrutinising their regional development agency; integrating policy development and enhancing partnership working at the regional level across the social, economic and environmental policy agenda; as well as carrying out a wide range of advocacy and consultancy roles with
UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...
bodies and the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
; but their public profile was low. Each acted as a Regional Planning Body with a duty to formulate a Regional Spatial Strategy including Regional Transport Strategy, replacing the planning function of county councils.


Membership

The eight regional chambers as defined by the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998 were not directly elected. About two-thirds of assembly members were appointees from the
county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
and
district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...
councils and
unitary authorities A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...
in each
region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
, the remaining one-third were appointees from other regional interest groups. The
London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...
is part of a wider
Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym "City Hall", is the devolved regional governance body of Greater London. It consists of two political branches: the executive Mayoralty (currently led by Sadiq Khan) and t ...
and has 25 directly elected members. Its role is defined in the
Greater London Authority Act 1999 The Greater London Authority Act 1999 (c. 29) is the Act of Parliament that established the Greater London Authority, the London Assembly and the Mayor of London. Background The Act was brought in after a referendum was held under the Great ...
.


The regional chambers

There was some inconsistency in the naming of the individual assemblies. Each chamber adopted either "regional assembly" or "assembly": *
East of England Regional Assembly The East of England Regional Assembly was the regional chamber for the East of England region of the England. It was based at Flempton, near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. The assembly was created as a ''voluntary regional chamber'' in 1998 by t ...
(abolished March 2010) *
East Midlands Regional Assembly The East Midlands Regional Assembly was the regional chamber for the East Midlands region of the England. It was based at Melton. History It was created by the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998. It was based opposite PERA on ''Nottingham R ...
(abolished March 2010) *
North East Assembly North East Assembly (NEA) was the regional chamber for the North East region of England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lie ...
(abolished March 2009) *
North West Regional Assembly The North West Regional Assembly (NWRA) was the regional chamber for the North West England region of the England. It was based at Wigan, in Greater Manchester. It was abolished in July 2008. Creation and functions The assembly was created by ...
(abolished June 2008) *
South East England Regional Assembly South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) was the regional chamber for the South East England region. Regional Chambers were established by the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998 and their function of consultation was shown in Section 8 of t ...
(abolished March 2009) * South West Regional Assembly (abolished May 2009) *
West Midlands Regional Assembly The West Midlands Regional Assembly (WMRA) was the regional chamber for the West Midlands region of England, established in 1999. It was based in Birmingham. It was abolished on 31 March 2010, its functions transferring to West Midlands Leader ...
(abolished March 2010) * Yorkshire and Humber Assembly (abolished March 2009) The
London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...
was established as a directly elected body by separate legislation and is part of the
Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym "City Hall", is the devolved regional governance body of Greater London. It consists of two political branches: the executive Mayoralty (currently led by Sadiq Khan) and t ...
. It continues to exist after the abolition of the eight regional chambers. Each assembly corresponded to a region of England.


Plans for elected regional assemblies

In May 2002, the then Labour UK government published a
white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...
, ''Your Region, Your Choice'', outlining its plans for the possible establishment of Elected Regional Assemblies. These assemblies were to be responsible for regional strategies dealing with sustainable development, economic development,
spatial planning Spatial planning mediates between the respective claims on space of the state, market, and community. In so doing, three different mechanisms of involving stakeholders, integrating sectoral policies and promoting development projects mark the th ...
, transport, waste, housing, culture (including tourism) and biodiversity. They would be funded primarily by central government grant, with powers to raise additional funds from a precept (demand for payment) on the
council tax Council Tax is a local taxation system used in England, Scotland and Wales. It is a tax on domestic property, which was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, replacing the short-lived Community Charge, which in turn re ...
. The Assemblies were expected to be elected by an Additional Member System similar to those used for the
London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...
, the
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyr ...
and the
National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Go ...
. The
Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Act 2003 The Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Act 2003 (c 10) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Its core provision was to allow the Deputy Prime Minister to make orders for referendums in each of the Regions of England on the questi ...
made provisions for referendums to be held to create such assemblies, and to simplify the structure of local government where this is done. Three such referendums were planned, for the regions of
North East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
and
North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
and
Yorkshire and the Humber Yorkshire and the Humber is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The population in 2011 was 5,284,000 with its largest settlements being Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Hull, and York. It is ...
. On 12 February 2004, Local Government Minister
Nick Raynsford Wyvill Richard Nicolls Raynsford (born 28 January 1945), known as Nick Raynsford, is a British politician who served as a government minister from 1997 to 2005. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Greenwich and Wo ...
announced that elected Assemblies would be able to direct local authorities to refuse strategic planning applications that are not in the region's best interest. They would be able to look across local boundary constraints and ensure planning decisions are made with region-wide interests taken into account. On 8 July 2004, it was announced that the referendums would be held on 4 November, but on 22 July Raynsford announced that only the North East England vote would go ahead on that date. This region was chosen because the government thought it was the most likely to approve the proposal. However, the voters rejected the assembly by 696,519 votes to 197,310, or about 78 percent to 22 percent. This overwhelmingly negative vote was seen as an insurmountable obstacle to elected regional assemblies elsewhere in England outside London. On 8 November,
Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...
John Prescott John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (born 31 May 1938) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he w ...
told the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
he would not move orders for the other two regions within the effective time limit of June 2005 permitted by the Act. The 'no' vote by the North East also affected the Labour Government's attempt to address the
West Lothian question The West Lothian question, also known as the English question, is a political issue in the United Kingdom. It concerns the question of whether MPs from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales who sit in the House of Commons should be able to vote ...
, because the government had canvassed regional assemblies as a partial solution to this anomaly. The English Regions Network (ERN) was the umbrella organisation for England's eight partnership Regional Assemblies. While the London Assembly worked with ERN on some issues it was not a full member of the Network.


Structure and powers of the proposed assemblies

The
Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...
John Prescott John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (born 31 May 1938) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he w ...
presented
Draft Regional Assemblies Bill
to
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
in July 2004. The bill outlined the structure of the proposed assemblies and defined their powers. The draft bill proposed the following structure: * The assembly would be a
body corporate In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for ...
with a distinct legal identity. * Each assembly would be composed of between 25 and 35 assembly members elected by the Additional Member System. * The assembly would select one member as the Chairman and another as Deputy Chairman to preside over its debates. * The assembly would have an Executive (cabinet) composed of a Leader and between two and six Executive Members. The draft bill would have given the assemblies the following powers: * Promotion of economic development * Promotion of social development ** Promote health, safety and security of the community ** Reduce health inequalities ** Enhance individual participation in society ** Improve the availability of good housing ** Improve skills and the availability of training ** Improve the availability of cultural and recreational activities * Improvement and protection of the environment * Additional functions and duties that the Secretary of State thinks appropriate


Abolition and replacement

On 17 July 2007 the UK government published the ''Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration''. The review brought forward the Government's plans to alter the structure of regional governance in England known as the Single Regional Strategy. The impact of the review was that the regional assemblies in their current form and function would not continue and that the regional development agencies were given executive responsibility for developing the single regional strategy. The regional chambers were abolished between 2008 and 2010 with their executive functions transferring to the regional development agencies. Local authorities were given an increased role in scrutiny at the regional level including scrutiny of regional strategies and the RDAs through participation in new local authority leaders' boards which were established in each region. The two bodies would jointly produce new single regional strategies, with Ministers exercising an oversight function.


Local authority leaders' boards

Following the abolition of the regional chambers, smaller Local Authority Leaders' Boards took over responsibilities for scrutiny of RDAs and Single Regional Plans. The first local authority leaders' board,
4NW The North West Regional Leaders Board is the Local Authority Leaders’ Board for the North West region of England. It was established on 15 July 2008 and replaced the North West Regional Assembly. It was initially based at Wigan, in Greater Man ...
, was established in July 2008 and others were formed once the regional chamber for that region was abolished. By April 2010, eight leaders' boards had been established. In June 2010, the new
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
-
Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...
coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
announced plans to remove funding from the new boards and to remove their statutory functions. The boards may continue as voluntary associations of council leaders. Regional development agencies were abolished on 31 March 2012, with their functions being taken over by smaller
local enterprise partnership In England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) are voluntary partnerships between Local government in England, local authorities and businesses, set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to help determine local econom ...
s which are not based on regional boundaries.


Alternative arrangements


Cornish Assembly

In
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...
, there was opposition to the South West Regional Assembly and the
South West Regional Development Agency The South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) was one of the nine Regional Development Agencies set up by the United Kingdom government in 1999. Its purpose was to lead the development of a sustainable economy in South West Engla ...
. A campaign for a
Cornish Assembly A Cornish Assembly ( kw, Senedh Kernow) is a proposed devolved law-making assembly for Cornwall along the lines of the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) and the Northern Ireland Assembly in the United Kingdom. The campaign fo ...
had been running since July 2000, and attracted the support of a petition signed by 50,000 Cornish residents and visitors, which was presented to
10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along w ...
on 12 December 2001. The campaign had the support of all five Cornish Liberal Democrats MPs, Mebyon Kernow and others; they stated that the SW regional assembly was undemocratic and unaccountable, and believed Cornwall should be able to take decisions about local services in its own directly elected and accountable assembly.


Merseyside Assembly

In July 2004, five Merseyside MPs, led by George Howarth MP, launched a Manifesto for Merseyside which proposed a Merseyside Assembly, which would take a form similar to the existing London Assembly. As well as the five Merseyside boroughs, the proposals also included the Cheshire authorities of Halton and Ellesmere Port / Neston. The main argument was that the North West was too large and did not represent a cultural or economic area; something Merseyside did better.


City regions

Since the
General Election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
in May 2005, the concept of city regions has gained currency in academic, policy and government circles, with several
think tanks A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental org ...
pushing the idea as a viable alternative to elected regional assemblies. However, opinion is divided on the question of whether to impose new city regional structures from above or to allow existing elected bodies to come together on a more informal voluntary basis.


Devolved English parliament

The
Campaign for an English Parliament Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...
, the minor
English Democrats The English Democrats is a right-wing to far-right, English nationalist political party active in England. A minor party, it currently has no elected representatives at any level of UK government. The English Democrats were established in 20 ...
party, and several
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
MPs, see a devolved English parliament as another alternative to regional assemblies. They believe that rather than breaking up the historic nation of England, it should be preserved - with its own parliament similar to that of the
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyr ...
- and that this is the only way the
West Lothian question The West Lothian question, also known as the English question, is a political issue in the United Kingdom. It concerns the question of whether MPs from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales who sit in the House of Commons should be able to vote ...
can be resolved while maintaining the United Kingdom.


See also

*
English votes for English laws English votes for English laws (EVEL) was a set of procedures of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom whereby legislation that affected only England required the support of a majority of MPs representing English constitu ...
* Historical and alternative regions of England *
List of England-related topics The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to England: England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Its 55,268,100 inhabitants account for more than 84% of the total UK population, while its mainland t ...
*
Rule of the Major-Generals The Rule of the Major-Generals, was a period of direct military government from August 1655 to January 1657, during Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate. England and Wales were divided into ten regions, each governed by a major-general who answered to th ...
(1655–1657) under which England and Wales were divided into 10 administrative regions *
Regional minister In England, regional ministers were appointed from 2007 on a part-time basis as part of Her Majesty's Government. Each minister had other departmental responsibilities, as well as specific responsibilities for one of the English regions. Their st ...
s (2007–2010)


References


External links


''Your Region, Your Choice'' White Paper
2002
The Campaign for an English Parliament

Cornish Assembly Official Website 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Regional Assemblies In England Regional assemblies in England Regional planning in England Regionalism (politics) in the United Kingdom