Memorandum by New Northern Future (RG
91)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The 2004 Regions White Paper set out a good
proposal to improve regional government, but it was decisively
rejected by the voters of North East England.
Nevertheless the need remains for reform of
the present system, to deliver stronger leadership and joined
up government action, all properly democratically accountable
and publicly scrutinised. The paper makes three suggestions:
— Get Whitehall and Westminster
out of London into the regions;
— Create a new, fit-for-purpose
structure for the North;
— Go forward with city regions,
empowered to provide strong strategic leadership and lead a revival
of civic participation.
The scenario for the North of England conjured
up by this paper—of strong Mayors of Greater Manchester,
Greater Liverpool and so on dealing directly with a powerful Secretary
of State for the North of England may be the stuff of nightmares
for a Whitehall mandarin, but would ensure that the North has
the political structure to ensure that it can deliver its full
potential in the 21st century.
GET WHITEHALL
AND WESTMINSTER
INTO THE
REGIONS
The 2004 Regions White Paper's elected regional
assembly proposal was a good response to the need to develop strategic
regional leadership, with proper democratic accountability via
directly elected representatives. Although the powers proposed
to be devolved from central government to the regional assembly
were few, more could have been transferred over time, as the assemblies
became established. The clear three tier structure (central government—strategic
regional assembly—service-delivering unitary local authority)
was a neat one. However, as a proposal, it was decisively rejected
by the electorate of North East England in the November 2004 referendum.
Nevertheless, there remains an urgent need for
"joined-up" strategic action at the regional level across
areas of social, economic and environmental policy if we are to
make effective progress towards the sustainable society and economy
we want and must create.
If voters are reluctant to invest in new elected
regional leaders to wield powers devolved from central government,
then those powers will have to remain with central government
departments and the quangos (eg the RDAs) accountable to them.
The following proposals for central government at the regional
level are suggested:
(a) Central government department decision-making
affecting English regions should be physically located in those
regions. One option might be for powers on planning, housing,
local government, transport, environment, and economic development
to be consolidated within a strengthened government regional office,
headed by a Minister. His/her title might be, for example, "Minister
for Sustainable Development in the West Midlands", and he/she
and the senior officials would be based in that region for at
least part of the time.
(b) In the case of the three northern regions,
the establishment of a "Northern Office" (similar in
concept to the pre-1999 devolution Welsh Office), combining the
activities of key spending departments, and with a Secretary of
State and headquarters staff physically located in the North,
could be considered. We envisage strong Mayors of Greater Manchester,
Greater Liverpool and so on dealing directly with a powerful Secretary
of State for the North of England. This may be the stuff of nightmares
for a Whitehall mandarin, but would provide a political structure
fit for purpose to deliver the "Northern Way".
(c) Hand in hand with more power to be exercised
at the regional level should be better and more high-profile scrutiny
of decisions being made and spending undertaken. If voters are
reluctant to invest in new directly-elected regional representatives,
then it is suggested that Westminster MPs are the best people
to deliver this. MPs of all parties should hold high profile meetings
both at Westminster and in the region to examine how government
across departments is performing for the region. This might be
an informal arrangement, or, in the context of suggestions (a)
or (b) above, it might be in the form of a formal Commons committee
that could summoning Ministers to high-profile sessions held in
the region to account for their performance.
CITY REGIONS
The restoration of a "city region"
strategic authority serving the main conurbations (reviving the
1974-85 metropolitan counties, Avon, Cleveland and perhaps other
areas) is supported, in the context of the North East referendum
result, as the best available means now of getting better leadership
and strategic action in those key areas. The London Mayoralty
shows what can be achieved when a structure allowing for clear
and accountable leadership is created (even if the term "Mayor"
may not be thought appropriate for the leader of some of the areas
eg West Yorkshire).
In transport planning, powers over a re-regulated
bus network and the strategic road network, plus strategic planning
and development control are required, as the Mayor has in London.
However there are some potential pitfalls that need to be borne
in mind:
(a) Big districts will have to be prepared
to give up power to the city-region leadership—for example,
over implementation of bus lanes on strategic roads, or for the
planning of major regeneration schemes. It is no good setting
up a new city-region leadership only to see it being undermined
by the big councils within it.
(b) City regions do not obviate the need
for a regional tier to spatial planning—the metropolitan
county boundaries are underfit to the real functional economic
regions. Also, their coverage is not comprehensive—freestanding
unitaries will be left out of the structure. Therefore, a four
tier structure (nation—planning region—city region/county—district)
will have to remain. This is sub-optimal compared to the three
tier structure rejected by the North East's voters (nation—elected
region—unitary districts), but will have to be made to work
as best it can pending more radical reform.
NEW NORTHERN
FUTURE
New Northern Future is an organisation that
was gearing up to be a factor in the referendum on an elected
regional assembly for the North West, which was then cancelled.
Its priority now is to see what devolution can be salvaged from
the North East referendum result, so that the North can achieve
the revival in civic leadership it needs to thrive in the 21st
century.
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