South West Regional Assembly - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The South West Regional Assembly (SWRA) was the regional assembly

Regional Assemblies in England

The Regional Assemblies of England were a group of indirectly elected regional bodies established originally under the name Regional Chambers by the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998. They were abolished on 31 March 2010 and replaced by Local Authority Leaders’ Boards...

for the South West region

South West England

South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...

of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, established in 1999.

It was wound up in December 2008, and its functions taken on by the Strategic Leaders' Board, the executive arm of the newly established South West Councils

South West Councils

South West Councils is an association of council leaders from the South West region of England. It was established in April 2010 following the abolition of the South West Regional Assembly....

. Cllr. Angus Campbell, Leader of Dorset County Council

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

is the first Chairman of the new body. South West Councils brings together the 41 local authorities in the region to:

Provide a voice for constituent local authorities on major issues affecting the South West
Influence Government policy as it affects the region
Encourage partnership working between local authorities and other organisations and agencies in the South West on policy issues where a broader regional approach is required
Promote the sharing of good practice
Support councils through delivery of the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership.

The region covers an area of 23,829 square kilometres including Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, Dorset

Dorset

, Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

and the Isles of Scilly

Isles of Scilly

The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...

, and represents a population of almost five million people. The South West Secretariat which supports the member organisations is based in Taunton

Taunton

Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....

, as is its successor body.

Transfer of functions from the Regional Assembly

In July 2007, Local Government Minister John Healey

John Healey

John Healey is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Wentworth and Dearne since 1997, and former Minister of State for Housing and Planning. In 2010 he was elected to the shadow cabinet and appointed shadow health secretary...

MP announced Government plans to abolish regional assemblies

Regional Assemblies in England

. Functions of regional assemblies were planned to pass to Regional Development Agencies in 2010.

The Regional Assembly's responsibilities for planning, housing and transport transferred to the Strategic Leaders' Board of South West Councils on 13 May 2009. The transfer followed agreement between the Assembly Leaders, the Strategic Leaders, the Social Economic and Environmental Partners and South West Councils. The outgoing Chairman of the Assembly, Sir Simon Day said:

"The Assembly achieved a huge amount over the past few years and has risen to a number of difficult challenges. From our first successful lobbying activity for Objective 1 funding to encourage investment in Cornwall and Isle of Scilly, to backing the UK’s Olympic Bid and the case to host the sailing event in the South West through to making make tough decisions on allocating funding for major transport and infrastructure, each challenge has require a grit and determination to achieve a regional consensus and provide a clear message to Government."

Organisation

The Regional Assembly was not a directly elected body, but was a partnership of councillors from all local authorities in the region and representatives of various sectors with a role in the region's economic, social and environmental well-being. It was made up of 119 members, of which:

79 were appointed by the 51 Unitary, County and District Authorities in the South West. Membership was reviewed by local authorities every year, and changes reflected political proportionality across the region after local elections.
2 were appointed by the National Parks Authorities in the region.
2 were appointed by the Association of Local Councils.
36 were appointed by the region’s Social, Economic and Environmental Partners (SEEPs). The SEEPs were drawn from a range of sectors including businesses, the voluntary sector, education and training, environmental bodies, faith communities, trades unions, tourism, health, agriculture, Racial Equality Councils, co-operative agencies, Learning and Skills Councils, Business Links and Culture. The SEEP representatives were nominated by regional Groups and these were reviewed at least every four years, so the Membership was fairly fluid.

Role

The main functions performed by the SWRA included:

Channelling regional opinions to the business-led Regional Development Agency
Regional Development Agency
In the United Kingdom, a regional development agency is a non-departmental public body established for the purpose of development, primarily economic, of one of England's Government Office regions. There is one RDA for each of the NUTS level 1 regions of England...

,
Carrying out advocacy and consultancy roles with national government bodies and the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

,
The Assembly was the Regional Planning Body with a duty to formulate a Regional Spatial Strategy
Regional Spatial Strategy
Regional spatial strategies provided regional level planning frameworks for the regions of England outside London. They were introduced in 2004...

,
The Assembly was also the Regional Housing Body responsible for producing the Regional Housing Strategy (RHS).

Opposition to SWRA

There was much opposition to the formation of the South West Regional Assembly with critics saying it is an unelected, unrepresentative and unaccountable "quango", and the area covered is an artificially imposed region and not natural. This opinion is based upon geography, arguing that having the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall in the same region as Gloucestershire would be comparable as linking London with Yorkshire. The feeling is especially strong in Cornwall where in July 2000 Mebyon Kernow

Mebyon Kernow

Mebyon Kernow is a left-of-centre political party in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It primarily campaigns for devolution to Cornwall in the form of a Cornish Assembly, as well as social democracy and environmental protection.MK was formed as a pressure group in 1951, and contained as members activists...

issued the "Declaration for a Cornish Assembly

Cornish Assembly

The Cornish Assembly is a proposed devolved regional assembly for Cornwall in the United Kingdom along the lines of the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly.-Overview:...

". In Oct 2007 Lib Dem

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

MP Andrew George stated in a press release, "Just because the Government has approached the whole Regional Devolution agenda in entirely the wrong way, does not mean to say that the project itself should be ditched. If Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

are benefiting from devolution then Cornwall should learn from this and increase the intensity of its own campaign for devolution to a Cornish Assembly."

Transfer of functions from the Regional Assembly

Organisation

Role

Opposition to SWRA

External links

See also