Memorandum by Hull City Council (RG 46)
INTRODUCTION
Hull City Council welcomes the opportunity to
contribute to this increasingly important debate. We recognise
(and welcome) the Government's commitment to reducing regional
disparities in prosperity and the Select Committees' recognition
(in a previous report) that economic disparities are at the root
of the many inequalities and social difficulties which are most
intense in England's urban areas.[50]
We also appreciate that the central economic objective of the
Government is to "achieve high and stable levels of growth
and employment", and that "to meet this challenge it
is essential that every nation and region of the UK is able to
perform to its full economic potential".[51]
In doing so, regional policy will finally be addressing, as the
Chancellor put it in his speech to the 2005 Sustainable Communities
summit, "the underlying causes of poverty and deprivation".
It is primarily within the context of improving
the economic performance of Hull and its "functional urban
area" that we situate the Select Committee's inquiry on whether
or not there is a future for regional governance. At the same
time, we are conscious that governance (or government) arrangements—at
a variety of spatial levels—are a key part of ensuring improved
economic performance. As a Local Authority, seemingly just one
part of an increasing number of sub regional and regional partnerships,
we are naturally concerned about the increasingly attenuated nature
of democratic accountability, particularly at regional level.
Naturally, all responses to the Committee's
inquiry about the future for regional governance should start
from the recognition that we are not discussing governance for
the sake of governance. It is about how democratically accountable
arrangements can be constructed which address the well being needs
of given areas so that they can make the best possible case for
investment and influence.
1. THE POTENTIAL
FOR INCREASING
THE ACCOUNTABILITY
OF DECISION-MAKING
AT THE
REGIONAL AND
SUB-REGIONAL
LEVEL, AND
THE NEED
TO SIMPLIFY
EXISTING ARRANGEMENTS
1.1 There is widespread agreement that the
multitude of partnerships and governance arrangements at sub regional
and regional level are confusing and contribute to a lack of "ownership"
and overall direction. Clearly, the Government's intention to
"democratise" its decentralisation and devolution plans
in order to bring about a better integration of regional strategies
and decision making, were based (partially, at least) upon the
presumption that elected Regional Assemblies would gradually evolve.
Following the overwhelming vote against the proposition of elected
regional assemblies at the North East referendum in November 2004,
it is widely agreed that elected regional assemblies are no longer
on anyone's agenda. However, one commentator has emphasised the
relentless nature of regionalisation pointing out that "the
promise of more autonomous elected assemblies as a future goal
certainly underlay (regionalisation) developments, but it was
not a significant driving force. These developments have been
evident as much in the southern and midland regions of England,
which were never expected to vote for elected assemblies in the
near future. . .."[52]
1.2 It is the case that the Government's
"regionalisation" agenda has been proceeding since 1997.
This process has seen:
— "The establishment of new regional
institutions, such as Regional Development Agencies and Regional
Chambers (Assemblies).
— The extension of the responsibilities
of Government Offices for the Regions, and the consolidation of
regional offices of executive agencies.
— The reform and widening of the scope
of the regional planning process, symbolised by the transformation
of Regional Planning Guidance into Regional Spatial Strategy.
— The emergence of dense networks of
regional forums, commissions and networks based around discussion
of high-level visions or strategic priorities for their region
in a specific policy field.
— The emergence of an interest in regional
policy in the Treasury, the predominant department in the making
of domestic policy".[53]
1.3 Thus, the "regionalisation"
and decentralisation plans of the Government—which continue—"have
resulted from ad hoc solutions to specific policy or departmental
needs".[54]
1.4 Thus, for example, Regional Funding
Allocations, which seek the priorities of a region up to 2016
in the fields of housing, transport and economic development,
are being developed by Yorkshire Forward (the Yorkshire and Humber
Regional Development Agency), the Yorkshire and Humber Regional
Housing Board and a newly created body—the Regional Transport
Board. The decisions of these groups will by drawn together by
a Regional Coordination Board (chaired by the Chair of the Yorkshire
and Humber Assembly). Similarly, the Northern Way initiative has
necessitated the creation of a Northern Transport Compact (to
prioritise pan-regional transport projects in the context of the
Northern Way).
1.5 It is perhaps the case that sub regional
arrangements for partnership working need to be revisited, given
that the majority of sub regional partnerships were set up with
a primarily economic remit. The remit of the Regional Funding
Allocations widens the subject matter to be covered by these partnerships
and, together with the development of city region partnerships
(under the Northern Way banner), it would seem sensible for city
regions/sub regions to re-visit their partnership arrangements
to ensure they provide the comprehensive response called for by
the Regional Funding Allocation approach. Partners in the Humber
sub region are currently engaged in just such an exercise.
1.6 Such a revisiting of sub-regional partnership
arrangements ought to contribute to a simplification (at least
at this particular spatial level) of existing arrangements.
2. THE POTENTIAL
FOR DEVOLUTION
OF POWERS
FROM REGIONAL
TO LOCAL
LEVEL
2.1 There is clearly potential for "sub-regional"
area agreements in a city region context (modelled on the Local
Area Agreements which are currently being rolled out).
2.2 An example could encompass post 2007
European Union competitiveness funding which (if available) should
be sub delegated to cities/city regions (in the Northern Way context).
This is suggested in the Commission Regulation on Structural Funds.
2.3 Compelling arguments have been put forward
in favour of the devolution of powers to the local level (from
national as well as regional levels). Indeed, American and European
examples of the benefits of greater local autonomy and governance
have been a key feature of the ODPM's sustainable communities
summits.
3. THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF CURRENT
ARRANGEMENTS FOR
MANAGING SERVICES
AT THE
VARIOUS LEVELS,
AND THEIR
INTER-RELATIONSHIPS
3.1 The effectiveness of current arrangements
for managing services at the various levels, and their inter-relationships
must, surely be called into question by the fact that the UK has
the highest variation in Gross Domestic Product per capita of
any EU country.[55]
4. THE POTENTIAL
FOR NEW
ARRANGEMENTS, PARTICULARLY
THE ESTABLISHMENT
OF CITY
REGIONS
4.1 Increasing governmental and academic
interest in the concept of city regions derives perhaps from three
main sources: the recognition that elected regional government
in England is no longer on the agenda; the weight of academic
evidence on the role of cities as economic drivers,[56]
and an increased awareness that tackling issues at the right spatial
level, is essential.
4.2 An ODPM Select Committee inquiry in
2003 into the effectiveness of Government regeneration initiatives
singled out Hull (and Stoke) as cities ". . . where heavily
disadvantaged wards are the norm rather than the exception"
and recommended that the Government should establish a central
resource which can provide extra support and resources to such
cities.[57]
In its response to the Select Committee, the Government agreed
that ". . . there are severe limitations to the effectiveness
of area based initiatives in areas experiencing severe deprivation
and that neighbourhood renewal needs to be viewed in the context
of a broader economic and social strategy for the wider area".[58]
4.3 Clearly, the city region concept provides
the "space" for the development of a broader economic
and social strategy for Hull, as it entails understanding the
various interrelationships between the City and its hinterland
(which is, of course, in another local authority area). The establishment
of a Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder (Gateway) in Hull and the
East Riding if Yorkshire (although the Pathfinder delivery area
is in Hull), highlights the close relationship between the two
local authority areas in terms of a shared housing market.
4.4 Recent research commissioned by Hull
City Council has examined the economic interrelationships between
Hull and its hinterland and shows that 30% of the jobs in Hull
are occupied by residents of the East Riding of Yorkshire. The
strength of this interaction varies significantly across the occupations
of commuters. About half of all key managerial and professional
jobs in Hull are held by in-commuters from the East Riding in
contrast to only 15% of the routine jobs.[59]
4.5 Regeneration and development efforts
in the City of Hull over recent years provide a good example of
the plethora of area based initiatives which have been drawn up
to tackle a variety of matters. Of the 51 Area Based Initiatives
listed in the Government's "Review of Area Based Initiatives"
(October 2002), some 40 have operated in Hull in recent years.
4.6 The proliferation of these (area based)
initiatives along with the resources which go into securing and
operating them, have perhaps meant that the primary cause of these
manifestations of social exclusion which such initiatives are
meant to address—Hull's economic underperformance—is
frighteningly easy to lose sight of. This is particularly so when
governance perspectives are limited by lines on maps ie local
authority boundaries.
4.7 It is for this reason, that Hull City
Council welcomes the new spatial perspective which the city region
concept offers. The challenge, inherent in the Northern Way initiative
is to explain the Hull and Humber Ports City Region's evidence-based
case for targeted additional investment. We note that recent research
has emphasised the "missing" economic dimension of Neighbourhood
Renewal and specifically commended a wider spatial perspective
to address economic intervention.[60]
4.8 Government constantly reiterates that
city regions should be understood as being about the economic
footprint of a city (and its city region) rather than being about
governance arrangements.
4.9 There is no widely accepted agreed definition
of the concept of a city region. However, one comprehensive definition
posits: "A strategic and political level of administration
and policy making, extending beyond the administrative boundaries
of single urban local government authorities to include urban
and/or semi rural hinterlands. This definition includes a range
of institutions and agencies representing local and regional governance
that possess an interest in urban and/or economic development
matters, which together, form a strategic level of policy making
intended to formulate or implement policies on a broader metropolitan
scale".[61]
4.10 The Northern Way established eight
city regions in the North of England. The Hull and Humber Ports
City Region is held to comprise the four local authority areas
of Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and North
East Lincolnshire. Each of the North's eight city regions is currently
engaged in drawing up a second iteration of their City Region
Development Programmes (which explain the contribution each city
region can make to reducing the output gap which exists between
the North and the average for England). UK Government guidance
on city regions emphasises the key element in understanding a
city region are the flows between the major city/cities of the
city region and its hinterland. These flows are based on labour
market analysis, commuting patterns, housing markets, retail,
leisure and education flows.
4.11 The Hull and Humber Ports City Region
has welcomed the incentive provided by the challenge of the Northern
Way to work more closely across local authority boundaries. However,
whilst it may well be that "the adoption of a city region
based spatial context can only contribute to the effective implementation
of public policy if it is accompanied by supporting changes in
the structure of administrative and governmental organisations",[62]
such changes do not have to be compulsory, neither do they have
to be uniform across city regions. Parkinson's research has emphasised
the importance of "informal strategic alliances" being
the norm in continental Europe.[63]
4.12 Moreover, in explaining the economic
underperformance of the North, "we may find that both co-ordination
and information failures concerning the economic assets and opportunities
of sub regional economies, and the failure of past public policies
may also have played a part".[64]
Here, in Hull and Humber Ports City Region we are aware that we
are at a very early stage in exploring the co-ordination and information
failures which may have attended the organisation (and performance)
of our sub regional economy.
4.13 Partners and stakeholders in the Hull
and Humber Ports City Region are aware that a typology or hierarchy
of city regions is developing in England. Major city regions such
as Leeds and Manchester may well want (and need) to explore more
formal arrangements for city region working. Hull City Council
would be relaxed about the development of any such asymmetrical
sub regional governance arrangements; just as the Yorkshire &
Humber Assembly has recognised that approaches in one part of
Yorkshire and Humber may not apply elsewhere in the region. One
size really does not fit all.
5. THE IMPACT
WHICH NEW
REGIONAL AND
SUB-REGIONAL
ARRANGEMENTS, SUCH
AS THE
CITY REGIONS,
MIGHT HAVE
UPON PERIPHERAL
TOWNS AND
CITIES
5.1 This is a matter of some concern, particularly
in the Hull and Humber Ports City Region, with its large range
of coastal and rural settlements. We are aware that ODPM has sponsored
work on the minimum criteria (size etc) for a functional city
region and we look forward to utilising this work as part of the
second iteration of the Hull and Humber Ports City Region Development
Programme (to be completed by September 2006—as part of
the Northern Way submission to Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.
5.2 The Northern Way's insistence upon the
need for tough decisions about investment priorities makes it
imperative that our understanding of how city regions work (and
the evidence upon which that understanding is based) is widely
shared and understood.
6. THE DESIRABILITY
OF CLOSER
INTER-REGIONAL
CO-OPERATION
(AS IN
THE NORTHERN
WAY) TO
TACKLE ECONOMIC
DISPARITIES
6.1 We welcome the closer inter-regional
co-operation which "working the Northern Way" necessitates.
We are conscious of the changes in the structure of employment
and industry which are likely to occur over the Northern Way time
frame (15-20 years) and the global forces which will shape a great
deal of this transformation.[65]
Inter-regional cooperation will be essential for the optimum exploitation
of the many assets the North has.
50 Reducing Regional Disparities in Prosperity, ODPM
Select Committee, July 2003. Back
51
A modern regional policy for the UK, HM Treasury/DTI/ODPM, March
2003. Back
52
"Devolution is a process not a policy: the new governance
of English regions", Findings from the Economic and Research
Council's Research Programme on "Devolution and Constitutional
Change", Briefing No 18, February 2005, by Mark Sandford,
Research Fellow in regional government, Constitution Unit, University
College, London. Back
53
Ibid. Back
54
ibid. Back
55
Productivity in the UK: the Regional Dimension, HM Treasury,
November 2001. Back
56
Eg Porter's study on "The Competitive Advantage of Nations"
(1990) and "Competitive European Cities: Where do the core
cities stand?", M Parkinson et al, ODPM, January 2004. Back
57
The Effectiveness of Government Regeneration Initiatives, ODPM
Select Committee, April 2003, par 33. Back
58
The Government's Response to the ODPM Select Committee Report
on The Effectiveness of Government Regeneration Initiatives, Cm
5865, July 2003. (Emphasis ours). Back
59
The Natural Economy of Hull, The Local Futures Group, May 2005,
commissioned by Hull City Council. Back
60
"Connecting Deprived Neighbourhoods to Local and Regional
Economies", Stephen Syrett and David North, Centre for Enterprise
and Economic Development Research, presentation at ODPM City Growth
Event: City Growth and Governance: Connecting the Local to the
City Regional, London, July 22, 2005. Back
61
"The Politics of City-Region Planning and Governance",
Mark Tewdwer-Jones and Donald McNeill, in European Urban and Regional
Studies, 7(2): pp 119-134, 2000. Back
62
"Perspectives on City Regions", John B. Barr, University
of Glasgow, Regional Studies Vol 39.5, July 2005. Back
63
Competitive European Cities-Where do the Core Cities stand? M
Parkinson et al, ODPM, 2004. Back
64
"What does regional and urban policy tell us about City-Regions
and what are the key questions we still need to answer?",
Paul Hildreth and Greg Clarke, ODPM, (working draft). Back
65
Cf "Regional Futures: England's Region's in 2030",
English Regions Network, RDA Planning Leads Group, ODPM, DfT,
January 2005. Back
| 
