ANNEX A Regional factsheets (for the English regions outside London)

EAST MIDLANDS The East Midlands is the third largest English region in terms of land area, yet the smallest in terms of population. It is over 90 per cent rural, incorporating the Peak District National Park and the Lincolnshire Wolds, designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The unique habitats of the Wash are protected as wetlands of international importance (Ramsar sites) and include many Sites of Special Scientific Interest. A National Forest is being created in the west of the region. The region’s built

heritage includes the magnificent Lincoln Cathedral and many stately homes such as Hardwick Hall, Chatsworth and Belvoir Castle. The region’s economy is diverse, with declining manufacturing industries in the former coalfield areas of the north of the region, heavy dependence on agriculture and food processing in Lincolnshire and other rural areas, and core employment centres, with a diverse and growing service sector employment, in the main towns and cities – including Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Loughborough and Northampton.

Notes for all regional data in Annex A:

Population figures are taken from Regional Trends 36 (Office of National Statistics, 2001).
GDP per head figures are from 1999.
Deprived area figures throughout this annex are taken from a total of the 88 most deprived local authorities in England (see Box B1 on page 78).

EAST OF ENGLAND 

The East of England encompasses a wide range of attractions, from stretches of protected heritage coastline in Suffolk and Norfolk through the Norfolk Broads to the Dedham Vale and Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The region has 700 Sites of Special Scientific Interest and 39 National Nature Reserves, as well as Community Forests in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex and the Fens in East Anglia. The region also has a number of attractive villages, market towns, and distinctive historic cities such as Norwich and the university city of Cambridge.

The East of England region has a diverse economy, with one of the largest concentrations of new and growing businesses in the country. Industries such as vehicles, paper and paper products, footwear, food and drink, printing, electrical engineering, banking and insurance, hotels and catering, pharmaceuticals and high technology, biotechnology and the film industry all have a significant role. Aerospace and defence engineering (which at one time were particularly important to the economies of Hertfordshire and Essex) are of declining importance due to the decline of the defence industry. 

The largest concentrations of manufacturing employment in the region are in Luton, Dunstable, Basildon and Southend-on-Sea. Motor vehicle manufacturing is significant in both Bedfordshire and Essex. There is a significant concentration of businesses engaged in R&D, hi-tech manufacturing and computer aided design in Cambridgeshire, primarily on the UK’s leading science parks in and around Cambridge

NORTH EAST 

The North East is the smallest of the English regions in terms of both land area and population. Over half of the region is rural, incorporating two National Parks – Northumberland and part of the Yorkshire Moors – and the Border Forest Park. The North Pennines and the Northumberland Coast are designated as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The region has a vibrant history, being home to Hadrian’s Wall – a famous legacy of the Roman Empire – early English Christianity with the Venerable Bede (AD 673–735) in South Tyneside and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne on the Northumberland Coast, and the castle and cathedral of medieval Durham, which are both World Heritage sites.

Economic life has traditionally centred on the estuaries of the three main rivers, based on coal, steel and shipbuilding. Manufacturing is still an important element in the regional economy, though it is now far more diverse, covering areas such as micro-electronics, biotechnology and the automotive industry, as well as a growing service sector.

The region’s legacy of innovation, engineering, architectural and design skills have been put to good use in creating a wide range of exciting new cultural assets, with the Brick Train at Darlington, the Bottle of Notes in Middlesbrough and the Angel of the North prominent among a growing profile of world-class public art. The Tees Barrage at Stockton and the creation of the Tees Forest is proving the catalyst for sports and environmental improvements, and the Lottery-assisted Arc in Stockton-on-Tees is introducing imaginative performance-related arts activity.

NORTH WEST 

The North West contains some of Britain’s most unspoilt countryside, making the region attractive to walkers. The Pennine Way is regarded by many as the greatest longdistance walk in Britain, and the Lake District National Park has England’s highest peaks. The region is also home to a number of important towns and cities, for instance Liverpool, which will always be remembered for bringing the world the Beatles; Manchester, which will host the Commonwealth Games in 2002; and Blackpool, the biggest and most popular seaside resort in Europe.The North West is the largest production centre for film and television outside London and the region’s connection with cinema dates back as far as 1896, when one of the earliest known moving pictures, Lumieres, was shot in Liverpool. Today the region is probably better known for bringing the world Coronation Street.

The North West had rich natural resources and trade links which led to a focus on industries like textiles, shipping and engineering. But shifting global markets have contributed to the growth of new sectors such as biotechnology, chemicals, aerospace and ICT. Today, fewer than one quarter of the region’s workforce is employed in manufacturing.

8,851 

SOUTH EAST

The South East region stretches in an arc around London from Thanet in the south-east to the New Forest in the south-west and Aylesbury Vale and Milton Keynes in the north. The landscape and natural habitat of 40 per cent of the region’s area is protected. 6,500 square kilometres are designated as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty – a third of the English total. The New Forest and South Downs have been proposed for National Park status. Almost a tenth of the region is woodland and there are 675 Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The region has a strong cultural heritage. Longestablished and internationally famed events such as the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the Chichester Theatre Festival stand alongside the largest number of specially designated museum collections of any region. The region has a renowned architectural heritage, from Canterbury Cathedral to the spires of Oxford.

Economically the region is strong, accounting for more than 15 per cent of UK GDP – the largest share of any of the English regions – and providing 3.7 million jobs. The South East economy is advanced (a quarter of all UK R&D expenditure in 1998 was spent in the South East), high cost, high income, broadly based and service-oriented. Economic activity is closely linked to that of London, and is significantly influenced by the region’s proximity to mainland Europe.

19,096  

SOUTH WEST 

The South West has the largest land area and the lowest population density of any English region. More than four-fifths of the total land area of the region is agricultural and just under a tenth urban or suburban, making the region predominantly rural in character. Over half the population live in rural areas or towns of less than 20,000 people.

The South West is a region of considerable diversity. It has the busy commercial centres of Bristol and Swindon and the ports of Bristol, Plymouth, Poole and Falmouth, which have trade links to Europe. In contrast, it is also home to 60 per cent of England’s heritage coast with 37 per cent of its total land area designated as a National Park (Dartmoor and Exmoor) or Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The region has the World Heritage Sites of Stonehenge and Avebury; the city of Bath; and a 150 kilometre stretch of the Dorset/Devon coastline with a wealth of prehistoric remains.

The region’s economy is very varied. Although traditionally associated with tourism, agriculture and fishing, food, drink and tobacco and the aerospace and defence sectors, recent years have seen a substantial growth in the financial and business services sectors, in the multimedia industry, and in the electronic and high tech industries. The M4/M5 corridor provides a base for global manufacturing companies such as Airbus, Rolls Royce, Honda and Smiths Industries, as well as major producers in telecommunications and electronics such as Orange and Hewlett Packard. The north and east of the region are generally economically prosperous, whereas the far south-west and less accessible rural areas suffer from peripherality and overdependence on static or declining industries, such as agriculture and fishing.

23,289  

WEST MIDLANDS

Just over half of the total population of the West Midlands live in large conurbations. The main population centre is based around Birmingham which, with a population of just over 1 million people, lies at the heart of a conurbation covering the Black Country, Solihull and Coventry. The other main population centre is Stoke-on-Trent, with a population of 250,000.

The region has many Areas of Outstanding National Beauty, including the Shropshire Hills, Cannock Chase, Wye Valley, the Malvern Hills and the Cotswolds, with the Peak District National Park touching the north-east of the region.

Historically the urban areas of the West Midlands have been internationally famous for manufacturing a wide variety of products. Restructuring of these industries has reduced the number of people working in the sector, but it still accounts for 29 per cent of the region’s GDP and 27 per cent of the region’s employment. The financial and business services sector is the next largest at 18 per cent, with the wholesale and retail sector continuing to grow, now representing 12 per cent of the region’s GDP. The agricultural sector contributes 1.5 per cent to the West Midlands economy.

YORKSHIRE AND THE HUMBER 

The region is made up of most of the historic county of Yorkshire plus north and northeast Lincolnshire. North Yorkshire and the Humber are primarily rural, with a cluster of services and heavy industries around the Humber ports, whilst south and west Yorkshire are mainly urban.

The region encompasses three National Parks (the North York Moors, most of the Yorkshire Dales and part of the Peak District), collectively accounting for a fifth of its total land area. There are two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the region (the Howardian Hills and Nidderdale), and three sections of Heritage Coast: the Spurn peninsula, Flamborough Head, and part of the north Yorkshire and Cleveland coast. The region is also home to four wetlands of international importance (Ramsar sites): the Humber Flats Marshes and Coast; the Lower Derwent Valley; Derwent Ings; and Malham Tarn. There are a total of 365 Sites of Special Scientific Interest and also 10 National and 33 Local Nature Reserves. The city of York – Roman stronghold and Viking capital – is one of Europe’s greatest mediaeval cities.

In the past two decades the region has suffered from the decline of traditional industries with substantial job losses in coal mining, steel, engineering and textiles. This has been partly offset by growth in financial, legal and telephonebased services. However, manufacturing still accounts for over a fifth of employment. Diversity is a strength, particularly in west Yorkshire, and Leeds is now England’s second financial/business services centre. Tourism is worth around £2 billion annually, and estimated to support some 140,000 jobs.

ANNEX B Regional comparisons

 76.7     

Notes:
1. Figures for 1997: Office for National Statistics, 1999
2. Figures in years, covering life expectancy at birth for the period 1998–2000. Source: Office for National Statistics.
3. Figures for 1999: deaths of infants under 1 year per 1,000 live births. Source: Office for National Statistics, Regional Trends 36 – 2001 Edition.
4. ‘Long-standing illness’ is measured by asking respondents if they have a long-standing illness, disability or infirmity. Long-standing means anything that has troubled the respondent over a period of time or that is likely to affect the respondent over time. A limiting long-standing illness/infirmity is one which limits the respondent’s activity in any way. Figures for 1996-7. Source: Office for National Statistics, General Household Survey.
5. Figures for 1998-9. Office for National Statistics, Regional Trends 36 – 2001 Edition.
6. Percentage smoking 20 or more cigarettes per day. Source as above.
7. Percentage who drank more than 8 units of alcohol on the heaviest drinking day of the previous week in 1998-9. Source as above.
8. Percentage who drank more than 6 units of alcohol on the heaviest drinking day of the previous week in 1998-9. Source as above.

ANNEX C
Public bodies active in the North East

1. Apart from the Government Office there can be up to four main types of government presence in a region, not all of which will be associated with a spending programme: 

• central government agencies with local or regional offices (such as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency);
• national public bodies (‘quangos’) with local or regional offices (such as English Nature or the Prescription Pricing Authority);
• regional public bodies operating or structured on a regional basis (such as Culture North East);
• local organisations located in a region (such as the Berwick Harbour Commission).

2. Many of these organisations are accountable to central government; many senior appointments are made by Government Ministers. In addition to these are central government programmes operating locally within a region (such as Health Action Zones). These should not be confused with the larger number of regional and local partnerships also present in each region, but with which there may be some overlap.

3. An indicative list of the public bodies active in the North East is set out in Box C1.

ANNEX D Existing regional strategies

The strategies currently prepared on a regional basis by groupings of regional organisations (often including the regional development agency, regional chamber, and/or Government Office for the region) are set out below. The diagram on page 83 shows the range of separate strategies which are currently produced in the North East. Changes proposed to regional planning guidance in the 2001 Green Paper on planning (Planning: Delivering a Fundamental Change) are set out in chapter 2. 

REGIONAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKS 

• Arrangements for preparation determined in the region. Should involve the Regional Development Agency, local government, regional round table, regional chamber, business networks, the voluntary sector and other public services.
• Should be endorsed by the regional chamber.
• Frameworks in place by end 2000. For region to decide when they will be updated.
• The Government encourages frameworks to:
      – define a high level vision for moving towards sustainable development in the region, considering the key social, economic, environmental and resource issues and the inter-relationship between them;
      – define sustainable development objectives for the region, and set priorities with the help of regional indicators and targets;
      – provide a regional vehicle for meeting the national target for increasing production of renewable energy;
      – establish a process of monitoring and review, taking account of the role envisaged for the framework;
      – support and draw from existing work including community strategies.

REGIONAL PLANNING GUIDANCE 

• Prepared by regional planning bodies and issued by the Secretary of State. In five regions the regional chambers already have the role of the regional planning body. In the others, the regional planning body is a forum of local planning authorities.
• No fixed or review cycle.
• Subject to non-statutory public examination before publication by Secretary of State.
• Covers a 15–20 year period.
• Local planning authorities required to have regard to regional planning guidance in preparing structure plans or Part I of unitary development plans.
• Provides a regional spatial strategy, including a regional transport strategy, within which local authority development plans and local transport plans can be prepared.
• Identifies the scale and distribution of provision for new housing and priorities for the environment, transport, infrastructure, economic development, agriculture, minerals, and waste treatment and disposal. 

REGIONAL TRANSPORT STRATEGIES

• Prepared by regional planning bodies as part of regional planning guidance.
• Review in 2003 and every five years thereafter.
• Covers a 15–20 year period with a particular focus on the immediate five-year regional transport priorities. • Sets out regional priorities for transport investment and management, across all modes, to support the regional strategy, including the role of trunk roads and local highway authority roads of regional or subregional significance.
• Provides a strategic steer on the role and future development of railways, airports and ports in the region, consistent with national policy.
• Gives guidance on measures to increase transport choice, including the better integration of rail and bus services.
• Details public transport accessibility criteria for regionally or sub-regionally significant levels or types of development, to be set out in development plans and local transport plans, to guide the location of new development and the provision of new transport services or infrastructure.
• Provides advice on the approach to be taken to standards for the provision of off-street car parking.
• Provides guidance on the strategic context for demand management measures such as road-user charging and levies on private nonresidential car parking. 

REGIONAL WASTE STRATEGIES

• Prepared by regional planning bodies as part of regional planning guidance.
• Regional planning guidance should:
      – set regional waste management capacity and disposal targets, including for the recycling and recovery of waste, to promote sustainable waste management, waste minimisation and alternatives to landfill;
      – set indicators for the measurement of progress against these targets, which can be regularly monitored;
      – specify the number and capacity of the different types of waste management facilities required and identify their broad locations in the region;
      – assess the need for any facilities to deal with special/hazardous waste in the region.
• The Government advises regional planning bodies to convene Regional Technical Advisory Boards (RTABs) to research and advise on waste issues in the region. The RTABs should include representatives from the waste planning authority, representatives from the different sectors of the waste management industry, the Government Office for the region, the Environment Agency and other statutory consultees. Following publication of the RTAB’s advice by the regional planning body, wide-ranging consultation should take place before the regional waste strategy is finalised.

 REGIONAL ECONOMIC STRATEGIES

• Statutory requirement. Prepared by the Regional Development Agency. Scrutinised by the regional chamber.
• First strategies produced in October 1999 – to be reviewed every three years.
• The Regional Development Agency involves any specified key stakeholders in the development of the strategy. 
• The strategies should provide:
      – a regional framework for economic development, skills and regeneration which will ensure better strategic focus for and co-ordination of activity in the region
      – whether by the agency or by other regional, sub-regional or local organisations;
      – a framework for the delivery of national and European programmes which may also influence the development of Government policy;
      – the basis for detailed action plans for the agency’s own work, setting the wider aims and objectives for its annual corporate plan.

FRAMEWORKS FOR EMPLOYMENT AND SKILLS ACTION 

• Replace regional skills action plans.
• Prepared by a regional employment forum led by the Regional Development Agency and including the Learning & Skills Council, Employment Service, and Government Office.
• First frameworks due by October 2002.
• Aims to ensure a more strategic approach to the labour market at a regional level, bringing together plans on employment and skills and integrating them with economic development. These should set out:
      – targets: quantitative and qualitative (such as employment rate, diversity, nontraditional working hours);
      – role to be played by each agency in promoting employment and skills regionally and locally;
      – how they intend to gather, share, analyse, disseminate and act upon formal and informal intelligence on both local and global issues;
      – emergency planning: how they intend to deal with long and short-term emergencies, such as sectoral change and decline, recruitment difficulties and redundancies;
      – how they intend to provide a co-ordinated, coherent and transparent service, which includes help with recruitment, skills development and other business development issues.

REGIONAL HOUSING STATEMENTS

• Statements are produced annually.
• Originally prepared jointly by the Government Offices and the field offices of the Housing Corporation, but increasingly now prepared by regional housing fora.
• The main purposes of the statement are to:
      – provide a regional context for local authorities in drawing up their own housing strategies;
      – encourage authorities to develop more strategic approaches, particularly in cooperating with neighbouring authorities and related services;
      – provide a link with other regional and cross-authority strategies and planning processes;
      – identify the regional priorities for housing investment to be funded from the Housing Corporation’s Approved Development Programme, through housing associations and other registered social landlords.

REGIONAL CULTURAL STRATEGIES

• First strategies published in 2001.
• Prepared by regional cultural consortia, established to champion the cultural and creative interests in the region and develop a common cultural strategy.
• The consortia advise and inform central government, National Lottery distributors, local government and regional bodies such as the Regional Development Agencies.
• Nominations for membership are made by the regional arts, museums, heritage, tourism and sporting public bodies, library and archive interests, the Regional Development Agency, the regional chamber, and local government. Other interests may be invited to join a consortium.

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