The regional assemblies of England were originally a group of indirectly elected regional bodies that were established by the enacting of the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998.[amazon_link asins=’1471889696′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’britresources-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’e1f9c19d-45df-4615-a1c8-5c2146f403fd’]
There were a total of eight regional assemblies known originally as chambers, one for each region of England with the exception of Greater London which had chosen an elected mayor and assembly in 1998 for its form of regional government.
The eight regional chambers of England, became known as regional assemblies, the title ‘regional assemblies’ never had any legal status.
All eight regional chambers in England were abolished between 31 March 2008 and 31 March 2010 and some of their roles and responsibilities were transferred by the newly created Local Authority Leader’s Boards.
Greater London continued with a directly elected London Assembly and is part of the Greater London Authority.
The original intention of, and the role of Regional Assemblies was to ensure that public opinion, particularly related to business development was directed to the regional development agencies.
As the Regional Assemblies developed their role was significantly enhanced in order to take on the role of scrutinising their individual regional development agency.
They were charged with co-ordinating and developing business partnership working and social, economic and environment policy development.
In addition, they assumed the responsibility for lobbying and participating in discussions with UK government departments and the various strands of the European Union. They also took on the responsibility from the County Councils of England of regional planning and were tasked with developing strategies for regional spatial (planning) and transport strategy.
Each chamber had adopted the title “regional assembly” or “assembly”. They were:
In May 2002, the British government published a Parliamentary Bill also known as a White Paper, Your Region, Your Choice.
This White Paper detailed the government’s plans for the establishment of Elected Regional Assemblies.
It was envisaged that the Regional Assemblies would be responsible for regional strategies covering economic development, planning, transport, sustainable development, tourism, culture, housing, waste management and the environment.
It was proposed that Regional Assemblies would be financed by way of a grant from central government, with the powers to raise additional revenue from a local authority precept on the council tax.
The draft bill proposed the following structure:
The draft bill would have given the assemblies the following powers:
The Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Act 2003 made provisions for a series of local referenda to take place in order to create such assemblies, and to replace the established system of local government that existed.
Three referendums were piloted, one in the North East, one in the North West and one in Yorkshire and the Humber.
In July 2004, it was announced that the referendums would take place on Thursday 4th November 2004.
But in July 2004, the government announced that only the election for the North East England Regional Assembly would go ahead on that date. It was thought that this region was the most likely to vote in favour of having an elected Regional Assembly. However, the voters rejected the assembly by 696,519 votes to 197,310 votes.
The overwhelming rejection of the voters led the government to abandon the idea of regional government in England outside of London.
Following the abolition of the regional chambers, Local Authority Leaders’ Boards took on the responsibility for scrutinising Regional Development Agencies and Single Regional Plans.
In June 2010, the new coalition government announced plans to remove funding from the new boards and to remove their statutory functions. The boards continued as voluntary associations of council leaders’.
Regional Development Agencies were abolished on 31 March 2012, their functions were taken over by smaller Local Enterprise Partnerships which were not based on regional boundaries.
