The rise of the sub-region

摘要

In a period when the focus in governance has been on devolution, the potential for directly elected regional government in England, and local government modernisation - and on the formal arrangements and the relative powers at each level - the emergence of sub-regional working in all parts of the UK has gone relatively unnoticed. But there is increasing formal recognition for sub-regions, exemplified by the statistics for all UK sub-regions now produced by the Office for National Statistics. In England, there is a continuing rearrangement of powers between the local and the regional levels, and powers are continuing to shift downwards from central government. The regional assemblies and chambers and regional local government association organisations (whose emergence is still ongoing in some regions) are seeking to lead and coordinate some key local issues - in spatial planning, sustainability, housing, and transport.