A SURVEY of local councils has revealed regional government is more popular in the North West than in many other parts of the country.
The survey, by the Local Government Association, comes just days before an announcement on whether a referendum will be held in the North West for a possible regional assembly.
If a vote is held, possibly next year, people will be asked whether they want Lancashire County Council to be scrapped and replaced with a regional assembly, with borough councils merging to form unitary authorities.
The survey, which included county, district and unitary authorities found that 75 per cent of councils thought that a directly elected North West Regional Assembly would lead to improved regional effectiveness and 79 per cent thought it would improve accountability.
Nationally the main concern of councils was that elected regional government would reduce the powers of local government. But in the North West less than a half of local authorities shared these fears - 46 per cent compared to a national average of 72 per cent.
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