ABSTRACT
From the mid-1990s, the Northeast of England was top of the government’s priority list for the creation of a devolved regional assembly, having a reputation as the most clearly defined and self-aware of the English regions (Milne 2006). The rejection of that assembly in the 2004 referendum suggested a complexity in the structure and composition of the Northeast that went beyond the erstwhile popular assumption that it was a homogeneous region centred on Newcastle upon Tyne (Beal 1999). The boundaries within the Northeast proved to be more controversial than the boundary around the region (Milne 2006: 7). The three areas under review in this chapter centre on the three main rivers in the region: the Tyne, the Wear, and the Tees. They are defined by using area postcodes: NE (Northumberland, North and South Tyneside, and Gateshead centred on Newcastle upon Tyne), SR (Sunderland), and TS (Middlesbrough) (see Figure 10.1). Outline map of postcode areas NE, SR, and TS https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203512913/90c55c7a-75c6-4751-8a6b-1984e6423ab9/content/fig10_1_C.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
