- guardian.co.uk, Thursday March 3 2005 15.31 GMT
Local government leaders are to draw up fresh plans for English devolution, it has emerged.
A new commission of key figures in the sector is to debate the possibility of establishing a "city region" structure following voters' rejection of plans for regional assemblies.
Thinktank the New Local Government Network (NLGN) set up the commission yesterday to find alternative ways of administering services beyond traditional council borders.
The deputy prime minister, John Prescott, saw his plans for regional assemblies crushed after 78% of voters in the north-east rejected the idea in a referendum last November.
The NLGN says that "no" vote has left a void that needs to be filled and is proposing England's major cities add a tier of local government with responsibilities similar to those of the Greater London authority.
Members of the NLGN panel include John Biggs, London assembly member and vice-chairman of the London Development Agency; Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Kent county council leader and chairman of the Local Government Association; and Tony Travers, director of the London School of Economics Greater London Group.
The NLGN city regions commission will bring together experts from within and beyond UK local government to oversee seminars, evidence sessions and research, before publishing a final report this summer. Announcing the launch of the commission, Warren Hatter, head of NLGN's research unit, said: "This is a chance to get behind the rhetoric of city regions to see whether they are a realistic option and, if they are, in what form they can be made to work.
"The 'no' vote in the north-east does not mean that there are not major issues that need to be addressed in the governance of England".
