Memorandum by the Wessex Constitutional Convention

Please note that this text is archival, produced by the Wessex Constitutional Convention. It does not necessarily reflect current WR opinion or policy.

Source: adapted from “Memorandum by the Wessex Constitutional Convention (DRA 11)“, publications.parliament.uk, © Parliamentary copyright 2004 – reproduced under Open Parliament Licence 3.0.

Memorandum by the Wessex Constitutional Convention (DRA 11)

  1. If, in the words of Ron Davies, devolution is a process, not an event, then it is prudent to maintain maximum flexibility as to the ultimate outcome, thus enabling potential obstacles to be imaginatively overcome. This the Draft Bill singularly fails to do. Clause 151 makes no provision for altering the number of regions or for altering the name of a region to reflect more accurately its revised area.
  2. The Wessex Constitutional Convention is supportive in principle of elected regional assemblies in England. However, our considered view, reflecting the fruits of thirty years’ research, is that the present configuration of regions in southern England is neither popular nor practical and that an alternative configuration offers a much stronger prospect of success. This configuration requires:
    • (a) that Cornwall (with the Isles of Scilly) forms a separate region, as advocated by the Cornish Constitutional Convention and supported by the 50,000 signatories of its petition calling for the same;
    • (b) that the South East region be divided three ways: Buckinghamshire to the East of England; Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to the South West; the remaining counties to form a continuing South East region;
    • (c) that the enlarged South West be renamed Wessex.
  3. Arguments for change were set out in a 40-page submission to the ODPM in response to the regional governance White Paper. The submission, The Case for Wessex, was published by the Wessex Constitutional Convention in 2003 A copy is enclosed with the hard copy of this memorandum and further copies, including an electronic version, can be made available should the Committee so wish.
  4. Our recommendation at this stage is that Clause 151 of the Draft Bill be amended to allow the number of regions to be increased or decreased and the name of a region to be changed. We look forward to further engagement in the process of re-drawing regional boundaries in the South, the necessary precursor to a successful referendum.

Appendix

THE WESSEX CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

The Wessex Constitutional Convention is an all-party pressure group. It was formed on 19 May 2001, in response to the failure of the South West Constitutional Convention, meeting earlier that day, to allow genuine dialogue on the issue of regional boundaries.

The Convention’s aims are:

  1. To achieve the broadest consensus on the form of self-government appropriate for Wessex.
  2. To campaign for the implementation of that consensus at the earliest possible opportunity.
  3. To oppose the continuing partition of Wessex between the “South-West” and “South-East” regions.
  4. To promote as Wessex the area comprising the eight traditional counties of Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Wiltshire, subject to addition or subtraction according to popular wish.

The Convention has no paid staff and its expenses are met entirely by donations from supportive individuals. As the resources at its disposal constrain the extent of its campaign work, the Convention has focused on disseminating the results of research and on responding to official consultations. The Convention produces a quarterly newsletter, Wessex Voice, and has published The Case for Wessex, produced jointly with Wessex Society and the Wessex Regionalists. The public launch of The Case for Wessex in May 2003 attracted television coverage on BBC South and a strongly supportive editorial in the Southern Daily Echo.