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MEETINGS & EVENTS
The South West Regional Assembly: recent workJoint Supper Meeting of BRLSI & Bath & County Club Organised & chaired by Rodney Tye Jackie Longworth Chair of the Assembly Supported by Cate le Grice-Mack of Norwood farm, another Member of the Assembly held at the Club on 29 April 2005 The SWRA is a partnership of 117 members drawing together Councillors from all local authorities in the region including the Scilly Isles and representatives of different sectors within the region including environmental groups; business; the unions; and voluntary sector (known as the Social, Economic and Environmental Partners). The Assembly is said to ‘play a key role in expressing the interests of the South West as a whole and responding to the needs of the region’. A recent Government White Paper Your Region, Your Choice identified responsibilities for regional assemblies. These included:
Jackie Longworth (a Trade Union prospect Representative) gave a wide-ranging summary of recent work. The Assembly has no funds to disburse, but can comment on how the Regional Development Agency spends its funds. There is some collaboration with other regional Assemblies. MEPs and MPs from the South West sometimes attend meetings as visitors but are not members of the Assembly. Questions were asked about the relationship with the EU committee of the regions established in 1995. Two councillors who serve on councils in the South West also serve on the COR. Total membership in Brussels is 344 members. However the members are nominated by the EU Governments for a four year term. They are supposed to have a mandate from the authorities they represent, or must be politically countable to them. Jackie Longworth explained that the two representatives made periodic reports on their actions in Brussels to the Assembly, but to some extent it was a coincidence that they were also nominated Councillors from their Authorities. There was detailed questioning from the floor on environmental and planning matters. Cate Le Grice-Mack gave clear and practical responses on the environmental matters. There was discussion prompted by Major Anthony Crombie of the Bath Society on new A Road developments in the South West. A few months before the meeting there had been a referendum in the North East Region on whether the Assembly there should be directly elected, as with the Welsh Assembly. The idea had been rejected, and so was unlikely to be adopted, at least for the time being, there or elsewhere. Business members of the Club queried whether the Assembly had the skills to enhance the growth of the Southwest economy. Having a forum for elected Councils to co-ordinate with neighbours where policy matters covered a wider area, like A-roads, was recognised as a useful role. Further Reading Periodic Newsletter of SW Regional Assembly. 11 Middle Street, Taunton TA1 1SH telephone: 01823 270101) Periodic Newsletter of the Committee of the Regions, European Union. Rue Belliard 101, B-1040 Brussels telephone: [31-2] 282 2155 Rodney Tye
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