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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Jun 14, 2020 17:22:06 GMT
Yes,there is a way to do that. Use the NUTS regions to establish regional assemblies. Abolish all county councils and resurrect all former district or borough council in all counties for a more local level of government. The county councils are too small to fund or legislate for projects of regional significance and big enough to feel isolated from the majority of the country's residents. The higher-level Euro-Regions are too large, and the lower level ones still do many unnecessary arbitrary combinations. NUTS is nuts. Maybe the Northern England region from the Maud Report could be resurrected as Far North minus North Yorkshire except Teeside ,with North West getting High Peak and Derbyshire Dales districts from Derbyshire(and East Mids) to compensate.Yorkshire and the Humber should be renamed Yorkshire with NE Lincolnshire being returned to East Mids. Bucks,Herts,Oxon(minus stolen parts of Berkshire)and Beds could be created as West Anglia, with the rump East of England renamed East Anglia.That would create more reasonably sized regions if you wanted that. |
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Jun 14, 2020 17:23:42 GMT
Or alternatively, Gloucestershire, Bristol, N Somerset, BANES and Mendip become a "West Country" region with three counties. The reason being because they all use "alroigh' moi luvver/babber" instead of using "'ansum", and all know what a Bristolian means by "lush". That's not a terrible idea, but I feel it would be a bit small. |
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Post by bjornhattan on Jun 14, 2020 17:30:41 GMT
Or alternatively, Gloucestershire, Bristol, N Somerset, BANES and Mendip become a "West Country" region with three counties. The reason being because they all use "alroigh' moi luvver/babber" instead of using "'ansum", and all know what a Bristolian means by "lush". That's not a terrible idea, but I feel it would be a bit small. You could add in parts of Wiltshire to bulk it up, the likes of Chippenham and Trowbridge fall squarely into that "West Country" culture, and their commuting links are mostly into Bath and Bristol. But then you have the problem of what to do with Salisbury (which really has more links with Southampton or Bournemouth than Bristol) and Swindon (which has links along the M4 to the Thames Valley). |
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Jun 14, 2020 17:37:35 GMT
That's not a terrible idea, but I feel it would be a bit small. You could add in parts of Wiltshire to bulk it up, the likes of Chippenham and Trowbridge fall squarely into that "West Country" culture, and their commuting links are mostly into Bath and Bristol. But then you have the problem of what to do with Salisbury (which really has more links with Southampton or Bournemouth than Bristol) and Swindon (which has links along the M4 to the Thames Valley). Abolish Wiltshire council and bring back the districts? |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2020 17:39:18 GMT
Cut Wiltshire in two, everything north of Westbury can join the West Country and everything south of it can join a Wessex region with Dorset and at least part of Hampshire
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2020 17:46:40 GMT
As you well know, my problem is not with the name, but with the county. As I have said previously, South Gloucestershire should become a non-metropolitan district within Gloucestershire and the old county border along the Avon should be restored with North Bristol becoming a borough under Gloucestershire and South Bristol becoming one under Somerset. Or alternatively, Gloucestershire, Bristol, N Somerset, BANES and Mendip become a "West Country" region with three counties. The reason being because they all use "alroigh' moi luvver/babber" instead of using "'ansum", and all know what a Bristolian means by "lush". I should possibly point out that both these suggestions were a bit tongue-in-cheek, although the second one might have some merit to it. |
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J.G.Harston
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Post by J.G.Harston on Jun 14, 2020 20:29:06 GMT
Tha and annexing all the north-facing parts of Yorkshire (rather than just Middlesbrough and Redcar) also seems reasonable. But the internal boundaries are dire! PITCHFORKS!!!!! A reasonable boundary would be to annex the High Tees and Middlesbro/Redcar, leaving Gusibrough and Whitby in Yorkshire where they belong:  |
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J.G.Harston
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Post by J.G.Harston on Jun 14, 2020 20:31:06 GMT
"The West" is quite a sound region but I hate the name. I'm trying to think of something better but the only thing that comes to mind is Ciderland. (Perhaps you could get away with Severn?) As a Berkshire irredentist, I entirely agree with you on the Vale of White Horse but I think Bucks would be even worse because it would cut Aylesbury,the county seat I think,from the highly populated A40/M40 corridor through High Wycombe,which has the best road links in the county and which is approaching 200k in population. Oh,and I think @europeanlefty would like to suggest the proposed West region be named Avon 😂 Severnside! |
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Post by bjornhattan on Jun 14, 2020 20:51:38 GMT
Tha and annexing all the north-facing parts of Yorkshire (rather than just Middlesbrough and Redcar) also seems reasonable. But the internal boundaries are dire! PITCHFORKS!!!!! A reasonable boundary would be to annex the High Tees and Middlesbro/Redcar, leaving Gusibrough and Whitby in Yorkshire where they belong: Ah, but wouldn't the people of Whitby be glad to be free of the yoke of Scarborough's rule? In all seriousness, the moors and the central parts of the Vale of York are much less densely populated than the Tees Valley, and so make more sense as a regional boundary. I realise that identity might not work that way. Then again, I'm biased in having most of my family come from Teesside, regularly visiting North Yorkshire, and one of my parents commuting from Newcastle to Northallerton for years. I'm probably overestimating the connection between the North East and the North Riding. |
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Chris from Brum
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Post by Chris from Brum on Jun 14, 2020 21:05:10 GMT
As you well know, my problem is not with the name, but with the county. As I have said previously, South Gloucestershire should become a non-metropolitan district within Gloucestershire and the old county border along the Avon should be restored with North Bristol becoming a borough under Gloucestershire and South Bristol becoming one under Somerset. And you know that Bristol proposal is insane and will never happen. Bristol is one city and should stay in one county. Maybe it should be a county borough on it's own. Bristol is a City and County, was for many years before 1974 and now is once again. |
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Chris from Brum
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Post by Chris from Brum on Jun 14, 2020 21:08:32 GMT
There must be a good name for places within a day's travel by combine harvester from Bristol! You really want it to be called "Wurzel country", don't you? |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2020 22:11:40 GMT
As a Berkshire irredentist, I entirely agree with you on the Vale of White Horse but I think Bucks would be even worse because it would cut Aylesbury,the county seat I think,from the highly populated A40/M40 corridor through High Wycombe,which has the best road links in the county and which is approaching 200k in population. Oh,and I think @europeanlefty would like to suggest the proposed West region be named Avon 😂 Severnside! Not all of it is Severnside - most of Somerset is nowhere near the Severn. I still think it should be "The West Country". |
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Post by bjornhattan on Jun 14, 2020 22:16:21 GMT
Not all of it is Severnside - most of Somerset is nowhere near the Severn. I still think it should be "The West Country". The downside is that "the West Country" is a very broad region. Swindon Town and Exeter City both have fans who say their club is the "pride of the West Country" - neither of those are particularly near Bristol nor in the proposed West region. |
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Jun 14, 2020 22:32:13 GMT
As you well know, my problem is not with the name, but with the county. As I have said previously, South Gloucestershire should become a non-metropolitan district within Gloucestershire and the old county border along the Avon should be restored with North Bristol becoming a borough under Gloucestershire and South Bristol becoming one under Somerset. Or alternatively, Gloucestershire, Bristol, N Somerset, BANES and Mendip become a "West Country" region with three counties. The reason being because they all use "alroigh' moi luvver/babber" instead of using "'ansum", and all know what a Bristolian means by "lush". I should possibly point out that both these suggestions were a bit tongue-in-cheek, although the second one might have some merit to it. But the 2nd one makes sense.I may be wrong but I seem to remember that proposal is relatively similar to the area covered by the West of England Combined Authority,apart from the rest of Gloucs not covered by Sth Gloucs district and North Somerset,because they refused to join. |
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Jun 14, 2020 22:33:52 GMT
As a Berkshire irredentist, I entirely agree with you on the Vale of White Horse but I think Bucks would be even worse because it would cut Aylesbury,the county seat I think,from the highly populated A40/M40 corridor through High Wycombe,which has the best road links in the county and which is approaching 200k in population. Oh,and I think @europeanlefty would like to suggest the proposed West region be named Avon 😂 Severnside! Hmm, but quite a large chunk is inland like Bath and North East Somerset!The West Country would do fine if such a region existed. |
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Jun 14, 2020 22:36:22 GMT
And you know that Bristol proposal is insane and will never happen. Bristol is one city and should stay in one county. Maybe it should be a county borough on it's own. Bristol is a City and County, was for many years before 1974 and now is once again. Oh, I must have got mixed up. I mean a region centred on Bristol with all the suburbs in other council areas west of Mangotsfield/south of the M5/east of the Bristol Channel (only as a last resort). |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2020 22:55:45 GMT
Not all of it is Severnside - most of Somerset is nowhere near the Severn. I still think it should be "The West Country". The downside is that "the West Country" is a very broad region. Swindon Town and Exeter City both have fans who say their club is the "pride of the West Country" - neither of those are particularly near Bristol nor in the proposed West region. True, but better names can very easily be found for those areas, which is less the case for the proposed West region. |
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J.G.Harston
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Post by J.G.Harston on Jun 15, 2020 0:44:50 GMT
PITCHFORKS!!!!! A reasonable boundary would be to annex the High Tees and Middlesbro/Redcar, leaving Gusibrough and Whitby in Yorkshire where they belong: Ah, but wouldn't the people of Whitby be glad to be free of the yoke of Scarborough's rule? Not if it wrenched us out of Yorkshire. I blame Beeching! By cutting the mainline to York and keeping the branch line to Middlesbrough it made communication with the rest of Yorkshire harder and forced communications links to point towards Teesside. In the late 1960s the initial proposals to put Whitby in an expanded Teesside County Borough caused outrage and uproar. The natural geographical boundary is the Cleveland Hills, not the Yorkshire Moors. Once you're in the Esk Valley you're in Whitby Rural District and of the Yorkshire Moors sociographical area. |
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Post by Penddu on Jun 15, 2020 14:04:25 GMT
At very least it is an interesting exercise to show that NI is not far off the population size of some single English counties, including even a defunct one (Middlesex, and post-County of London Middx at that.) I quite like most of those as it happens. It is a shame to split Bucks in two but no worse IMO than the slicing off of the Vale of White Horse from Berks and shoving it into Oxon, which has happened IRL. South Midlands is a bit ghastly but only because that part of the country lacks a strong identity IMO. "The West" is quite a sound region but I hate the name. I'm trying to think of something better but the only thing that comes to mind is Ciderland. (Perhaps you could get away with Severn?) That is the same as my region and I always had a problem with naming that one - I went for Upper Wessex (withe Wessex region above being Lower Wessex). I'd also considered a Severn region which would combine Bristol and Gloucestershire with the West Mercia region on that map < troll mode on> and maybe Monmouthshire too < troll mode off> but it doesn't make much sense to separate North Somerset from Bristol. That region of Bristol/Glos/Somerset/Wilts makes the most perfect sense in terms of boundaries but has no satisfactory name, whereas there are good names like Essex or Mercia which are hard to apply to a satisfactorily drawn region |
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Post by Penddu on Jun 15, 2020 14:10:08 GMT
Alternative regions for England, trying to get them to approximately the same population as Northern Ireland:  Maybe taking NI as minimum size for a region - but increasing to 5 million (Scotland) as a maximum size could give a more balanced approach. |
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