GOVERNMENT HEEDS SOUTH EAST VIEWS IN REGIONAL WHITE PAPER

THE GOVERNMENT'S WHITE PAPER ON REGIONAL GOVERNANCE IN ENGLAND (published today, 9 May) will not impose elected regional assemblies on regions that don't want them. Click Here to view the document.

At present each of the eight English regions has a 'partnership' assembly, bringing together councillors and stakeholders. They represent their regions' views to London and Brussels, hold regional quangos to account, and prepare strategic land use and transport plans.

Cllr David Shakespeare OBE, Chair of the South East England Regional Assembly said: "It looks like the Government has got the message that we've been pressing over the past year. It has to be 'horses for courses'. Not all regions may feel they need elected regional government. If regional diversity means anything, regions must be given the freedom to choose how they are governed at the regional level."

Cllr Shakespeare continued: "The South East is the UK's largest and most successful region. In our current Assembly we have developed a model of regional governance that is working well. One of the great strengths of a partnership assembly like ours is that it can include representatives of a wide range of interests - including business and the voluntary sector - alongside local authority councillors. It will be a challenge for elected assemblies to achieve that wide spread of representation."

The Assembly will be digesting the White Paper over the next few months, and will debate it in full at its next plenary meeting in Brighton and Hove on 17 July.

Paul Bevan, Chief Executive of the South East England Regional Assembly said: "We will be looking at the detail to see whether the Government has committed to streamline and strengthen regional working in the ways we have proposed. We want to see clearer lines of accountability for regional quangos, and greater self-determination for assemblies in strategic land use and transport planning."

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Notes to editors:

1. The Regional Assembly is the “voluntary regional chamber” for the South East. It was established in January 1999 to give a representative voice to the South East region which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, and Surrey.
2. The Assembly is made up of 111 members including elected councillors nominated by the region’s local authorities and 37 representatives from other sectors of the community (including business, trades unions, education, housing, health, sports, culture, tourism, faith groups, environmental, community and voluntary organisations).
3. The Assembly has three areas of core business:
1. It is the representative voice of the South East, engaging and representing its member organisations and, through them, the wider public.
2. The Assembly has a specific role under the Regional Development Agencies' Act 1998 to ensure the accountability of the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) to the region.
3. The Assembly has been the Regional Planning Body for the South East since April 2001. It has responsibility for proposing strategic planning and transport policies to Government.

Last updated: 21 August 2007