Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP, has announced the Government’s intention to abolish the final remaining tier of regional government.  Announcements had already been made of the plans to abolish the South East England Regional Development Agency (SEEDA) and the Regional Planning Board (whose predecessor, the SE England Regional Assembly put together the South East Plan).
 
Commenting on the announcement, Anne Milton, MP for Guildford said: “I have always said that I want to see more local decisions by local people.  This is part of the move towards greater localism and decentralisation of decisions which do not need to be taken by national government.  People don’t identify with a region stretching from the Isle of Wight up to Milton Keynes and east to Dover. They do identify with county and borough or district local government, with regular elections.  I know this is a difficult time for many people, but this is the right decision for local accountability.”
 
Eric Pickles, Secretary of State said:  "I do not believe the arbitrary government regions to be a tier of administration that is efficient, effective or popular. Citizens across England identify with their county, their city, their town, their borough and their neighbourhood. The case for elected regional government was overwhelmingly rejected by the people in the 2004 North East Referendum. Unelected regional government equally lacks democratic legitimacy, and its continuing existence has created a democratic deficit.
 
"Let me be clear: The Government Offices are not voices of the region in Whitehall. They have become agents of Whitehall to intervene and interfere in localities, and are a fundamental part of the 'command and control' apparatus of England's over-centralised state."
 
There are nine offices based in the Government regions: North East, South West, South East, West Midland, Yorkshire and the Humber, London, East Midlands, North West, East of England.  The Department for Communities and Local Government oversees the Government Office Network, on behalf of all sponsor Departments. A copy of the written statement can be found at www.communities.gov.uk/statements/newsroom/regionalgovernment

27th July 2010

Tags: South East Plan