sector and services economy that replaced industry created jobs that were accessible to, or even targeted, women workers (Hudson, 2005: 587). The range and quality of the region’s educational institutions has led to its growth as a ‘knowledge economy’. The low cost of property and land relative to the England average can provide a draw for in-migration and business relocation, and has allowed the development of a more outward-looking, multicultural region. The region’s long and often strife-riven industrial history has left a legacy of successful workplace organisation and campaigning; today, the North East region is notable for having the highest number of workplaces with a trades union presence in England, with over a quarter of the workforce belonging to a union (DBEIS, 2017).
Environment
In spite of its industrial reputation, around two thirds of the North East region is rural, with half of the rural area either designated as a national park (Northumberland and North York Moors) or as an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) (GONE, 2009). Although the imaginary of the North East in national policy continued to be centred around work and productivity, some awareness of its cultural and environmental assets emerged in the latter part of the century, when radio and television disseminated its traditions more widely (see later section on cultural regeneration) and tourism rose in prominence as part of its economy. In terms of environmental assets, the North East has been described as having ‘some of the UK’s finest high-quality and diverse countryside, and natural and built heritage, including a varied coastline ranging from extensive sandy beaches, dunes and inter-tidal flats, to spectacular cliffs, islands and rocky outcrops’ (GONE, 2008: 6). The region was awarded two world heritage sites in the mid-1980s: Durham Castle and Cathedral from 1986; and Hadrian’s Wall from 1987 – shared with the North West of England and part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire international sites (GONE, 2008: 6).
Regarding its rural areas, the agriculturally productive land is mainly found along the coastal plain (particularly in Northumberland), while higher ground to the west provides large acreages of pasture (Faulkner and Gregory, 2010: 10). Along the line dividing the pasturage from arable land are located the region’s main historic market towns – due to their origins as places for exchange between the different products of each type of farming. While the rising role of coal in the region’s economy came to reduce their relative prominence, many of these towns retain regional significance as rural ‘hub’ towns and visitor destinations (Roberts, cited in Green and Pollard, 2007: 10).
There is a trend for the rural areas to increase in population at a higher rate than the urban ones, influenced by those from the urbanised parts of the region moving out to the rural west, as well as through in-migration from other regions by those in mid- to later life, who are particularly attracted to Northumberland and County Durham (Midgley et al, 2005: 6). At the 2001 Census, 16.9 per cent of the North East’s population lived in a rural ward (Midgley et al, 2005: 4). By the 2011 Census, this proportion had increased to 18.4 per cent of the population, while 81.4 per cent were classed as urban dwellers (ONS, 2013).
Governance restructuring
The North East’s distance from central government in London, and its proximity to the Scottish Borders, is a thread that runs through the governance of the region. The dominant neoliberal emphasis on regional productivity and employment continues to shape a negative image of the North East nationally, and in England, central government exerts a high degree of control over investment and spending (Raikes et al, 2019). Attempts to increase regional autonomy were made in 2004, when the North East was the first English region to have a referendum on an elected regional assembly. Based on a turnout of nearly 50 per cent, the proposal was rejected and, as a consequence, similar referendums that were planned elsewhere were abandoned (Rallings and Thrasher, 2006). Nevertheless, regional structures, including its regional development agency (ONE North East) and GONE, endured until the regional tier was abolished by the Coalition government (2010–15).
While regional devolution failed, various other forms of devolved governance have been introduced that have produced a confusing and fragmented institutional array. There are now four layers of regional devolution, added to disparate catchment areas used by the health, emergency and police services. This creates a disjointed picture of governance, with impacts for public participation and accountability (Shaw and Robinson, 2018), and many of the new bodies ‘fail to offer equity for rural communities and places’ (Davoudi et al, 2017: 20).
Of the four layers of devolution, the first consisted of supra regional growth deals, including the Northern Powerhouse, which unites North East, North West and parts of North Wales. At the subregional level, the first was city-region devolution (‘combined authorities’), introduced through the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. By April 2018, 12 devolution deals had been announced for England (at the time of writing, 11 remain). Eight of these, including the Tees Valley Combined Authority and the North of Tyne Combined Authority, have elected ‘metro mayors’ (Wilson and Paun, 2019). Of the eight combined authorities with metro mayors, the North of Tyne and Tees Valley have the fewest devolved powers (Wilson and Paun, 2019).
The second layer of devolution (‘city deals’) was brought about through the Localism Act 2011. In December 2011, the first wave of city deals was launched, offering new powers over finance and planning to more than 30 major UK cities to date. Newcastle was in the first wave of the eight largest British cities, while Sunderland and the North East were in the second wave (Ward, 2018). A separate round of local growth deals was launched in 2014, applying to local enterprise partnership areas: the North East, Tees Valley and York, North Yorkshire, and East Riding growth deals were all announced in 2015.
A further trend that may raise concern for regional cohesion and spatial justice is the breaking away of more from less prosperous subregions. Real growth in gross value added (a measure of the worth of goods and services generated) between 2009 and 2017 in (what has become since 2018) the North of Tyne Combined Authority set of local authorities was 13.8 per cent, while growth for the same period in the Tees Valley Combined Authority was only 2.8 per cent (ONS, 2018).
Economic restructuring
The turn of the millennium saw a period of restructuring and improvement of economic performance for the North East. Regional gross value added for the North East grew by almost a third between 1995 and 2002 (Midgley et al, 2005: 4). The declining traditional industries (mining, steel, shipbuilding, chemicals and heavy engineering) gave way to a services economy, entrepreneurship, innovation and new forms of industry, including pharmaceutical, digital and biotech (GONE, 2008; CLES, 2014; Charles and Liddle, 2018). This transformation has been encapsulated in the phrase ‘from coal to call centres, from ships to microchips’.
The strong growth trend, which coincided