Northern England devolution referendums, 2004

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The Northern England devolution referendums were referendums starting with the North East region of England, in the United Kingdom, on 4th November 2004. Dubbed by the government the Great North Vote, the referendum proposed that the region should have an elected regional assembly. The voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposal by 77.9%, also halting proposals to devolve power in other English regions: the similar planned votes in North West England and in Yorkshire and the Humber were postponed and then dropped.

Contents 1 Options put to vote 1.1 Cheshire 1.2 County Durham 1.3 Cumbria 1.4 Lancashire 1.5 North Yorkshire 1.6 Northumberland 2 The result 3 Future 4 External links 5 References

[edit] Options put to vote

The creation of regional assemblies was to be tied to abolition of the existing two-tier structure for local government in these regions; and its replacement with a uniform system of unitary authorities. In areas that currently have two-tier government (Cheshire, County Durham, Cumbria, Lancashire, North Yorkshire, Northumberland), voters were to be asked which pattern of unitary government they would like to see.

Two options were proposed by the Boundary Committee for each county in the review area - generally consisting of a single unitary authority for the entire county, or a breakup into smaller authorities which are larger than the existing districts. It was recommended that ceremonial counties be left untouched in most cases. This recommendation was broadly (with one minor alteration in West Lancashire) accepted by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Voting was to take place on a per-county council-area basis, except that the Cumbria and Lancashire votes will be run as one — since it would be impossible to have option 1 in one and option 2 in another.

Any changes as a result of the North East referendum would probably have come into effect on 1st April 2006 — to give time for preparation, and taking into account 1st April as the traditional day of local government reform in the UK.

In Lancashire and Cumbria the proposals for multiple unitary authorities were very similar to those proposed by the Redcliffe-Maud Report in 1969. This proposed authorities for North Cumbria based in Carlisle, and one for Morecambe Bay covering Barrow-in-Furness and Lancaster for the north of the region. In central Lancashire there were to be divided into four authorities based on Blackpool, Preston, Blackburn and Burnley. The area of West Lancashire was to be given to Merseyside and included with Southport in a district.

The options were as follows:

[edit] Cheshire

Option 1 Halton Warrington Cheshire Council	Option 2 Halton Warrington Chester and West Cheshire (Chester and Ellesmere Port and Neston) Mid Cheshire (Vale Royal and Crewe and Nantwich) East Cheshire (Congleton and Macclesfield)

[edit] County Durham

Option A Hartlepool Stockton-on-Tees Darlington Durham Council	Option B Hartlepool Stockton-on-Tees Darlington South Durham (Sedgefield, Teesdale and Wear Valley) North Durham (Chester-le-Street and Derwentside) East Durham (Durham and Easington)

[edit] Cumbria

Option 1 Cumbria Council	Option 2 North Cumbria (Allerdale, Carlisle, Copeland and Eden) Morecambe Bay (Barrow-in-Furness, South Lakeland, and Lancaster from Lancashire)

[edit] Lancashire

Option 1 Blackpool with Fleetwood (Blackpool with parts of Wyre) Blackburn with Darwen Lancashire Council

Option 2 Morecambe Bay (Lancaster with South Lakeland and Barrow-in-Furness from Cumbria) Blackpool and the Fylde (Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde) Central Lancashire (Preston, South Ribble and Chorley) East Lancashire (Burnley, Pendle, Ribble Valley and Rossendale) Blackburn with Hyndburn (Blackburn with Darwen and Hyndburn) Sefton and West Lancashire (Sefton from Merseyside, with part of West Lancashire) Wigan (Wigan from Greater Manchester, with part of West Lancashire)

[edit] North Yorkshire

Option 1 Stockton-on-Tees Middlesbrough Redcar and Cleveland City of York North Yorkshire Council	Option 2 Stockton-on-Tees Middlesbrough Redcar and Cleveland City of York Craven and Harrogate Hambleton and Richmondshire Ryedale and Scarborough East Riding of Yorkshire (existing East Riding of Yorkshire with Selby)

[edit] Northumberland

Option A Northumberland Council	Option B Rural Northumberland (Alnwick, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Castle Morpeth and Tynedale) South East Northumberland (Blyth Valley and Wansbeck)

[edit] The result

On 4 November 2004, in a turnout of almost 48% using a postal ballot, voters in the North East decisively rejected the proposed regional assembly.^[1][2] The reasons for this result are varied, however it is felt that the regional power would have been concentrated in an Assembly situated in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which given the strong historic rivalries between urban centres in the North-East was an unpopular choice of venue (although vehemently supported by the dignitaries of Newcastle itself, which created further tensions). It was also felt that not enough of a case had been put forward for the necessity of the Assembly, and it was feared that it would add another layer of politicians and public servants, thereby increasing taxes for the citizens of the areas affected.^[3]

Yes: 197,310 (22.1%)

No: 696,519 (77.9%)

Rejected: 12,538

Local authority	Yes	No	Turnout*
Alnwick	2,771	11,666	57.4%
Berwick-upon-Tweed	2,250	8,597	52.3%
Blyth Valley	7,523	21,178	45.5%
Castle Morpeth	4,776	16,952	57.2%
Chester-le-Street	5,487	15,610	49.5%
Darlington	4,784	32,282	49.0%
Derwentside	9,718	22,888	49.1%
Durham	9,791	24,106	48.3%
Easington	8,065	21,520	42.5%
Gateshead	17,011	52,459	49.3%
Hartlepool	4,887	24,240	42.9%
Middlesbrough	7,977	33,543	42.1%
Newcastle upon Tyne	19,984	61,477	46.4%
North Tyneside	15,203	55,121	50.7%
Redcar & Cleveland	8,493	43,250	50.6%
Sedgefield	9,040	23,583	48.3%
South Tyneside	11,329	41,029	46.3%
Stockton-on-Tees	11,050	52,040	48.3%
Sunderland	17,927	71,893	43.4%
Teesdale	2,020	8,972	56.9%
Tynedale	5,146	20,975	55.4%
Wansbeck	5,947	15,503	46.6%
Wear Valley	6,131	17,635	49.9%
Totals	197,310	696,519	47.7%

* Valid and rejected votes divided by electorate.

The related votes in Northumberland and County Durham on local government changes became moot, though new single merged unitary authorities will be established based on the county council areas (i.e. Option A in each case) as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. The votes had been

County	Option A	Option B	Turnout*
County Durham	89,149	87,050	47.1%
Northumberland	51,560	66,140	50.2%

* Valid and rejected votes divided by electorate.

[edit] Future

Similar referendums had been planned in North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber. These were postponed on 22 July due to issues with all-postal ballots - there were many allegations of fraud and procedural irregularities. Following the rejection of the proposal in the north east of England Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott ruled out holding further referendums in other regions for the foreseeable future.^[4]

[edit] External links

• UK Electoral Commission

[edit] References