“Some in Cornwall see their county as distinct from the rest of the region, a special case that should be handled separately from everywhere east of the Tamar.

Some in Poole and Bournemouth associate themselves more closely with Southampton, Portsmouth and the M3 corridor than with rural Dorset.
And then there the traditional, often historic, rivalries and tensions that you find in any region.

One county looking down on another.

A smaller one mistrusting a larger neighbour.

Urban areas versus rural ones.

And so on.

If we’re going to make a success of the South West, that whole attitude has to change.

And that’s why today’s conference is so important.

It’s about recognising that this region can achieve MORE TOGETHER THAN APART.

About long-term strategic thinking and planning that benefits everyone – NOT PROMOTING ONE AREA AT THE EXPENSE OF ANOTHER.”

He was speaking at the creation of the “South West Growth charter Group” (spearheaded by leadership of the Pennon Group, owners of the utility company South West Water). Encouraged, this group pulled together a charter for the South West covering all the four counties in a matter of days and sent it to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Javid) ahead of the autumn statement.

This strongly suggest that neither the Exeter and Plymouth nor the Heart of the South West bids might be going anywhere (one is too parochial, the other hasn’t got a mayor). $64,000 question is who will get how much from the £191 million allocated to South West LEP in the autumn statement?