ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the concept of City Region in more depth and considers their development by the Coalition Government elected in 2010. In 2005 the European Union had designated 61 'City Regions', seven of which were in England. The Rogers Report saw that the role of cities as 'engines of economic growth is widely accepted and their spheres of influence the City Regions are becoming recognised as fundamental building blocks in the national fabric'. The idea was strongly supported by the City Regions Commission. The emerging importance and recognition of certain cities as regional centres followed on from the failure of the Labour Government to introduce elected Regional Assemblies in England after the negative reaction in the North East Region referendum in 2004. Thereafter the Labour Government relied on voluntary partnerships between neighbouring local authorities called Multi Area Agreements (MAAs) to co-ordinate bottom-up economic development. City Regions have been used across Europe to encourage urban economic growth.
