After the region's overwhelming No vote on a regional assembly, Neil Hunter looks at the areas where the North still needs special consideration.

The economy

Campaigners for a regional assembly claimed one of the most important benefits would be a better financial deal for the North-East, which suffers more than most from a funding system called the Barnett Formula.

The set-up means Scotland and Wales, where devolution is said to be working, receive significantly more per head of population than those in the North-East.

Critics say the North-East has suffered years of neglect and the collapse of traditional industries, such as shipbuilding, coal and steel, have not been adequately replaced.

Figures show 36 per cent of the North-East's population (936,000 people) live in the most deprived ten per cent of wards in England. The region also has the highest proportion on low pay (25.5 per cent) and has 30 per cent of households having an annual income of below £10,000.

Health

People in the North-East have the poorest health status in the country. Death rates are typically more than ten per cent higher than in England overall, while chronic illnesses are 27 per cent higher and levels of poor health 33 per cent higher.

Life expectancy at birth in the region is 1.4 years less (74.2 years) than in England and Wales (75.6 years).

The biggest lifestyle risk factors for heart disease and strokes are smoking, poor diet, lack of physical activity, habitual excessive drinking, obesity and stress.

Lung cancer death rates in the North-East are 50 per cent above the national average.

Housing

Problems with housing exist across the region - but differ from place to place.

One estimate suggests as much as a fifth of the entire housing stock in the North-East is in such little demand that there is a danger homes could be left unoccupied and boarded up.

The issue of low demand has been identified by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister as a priority for action, and £500m has been set aside to fund ten Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders. The first in the region is a joint venture in Newcastle and Gateshead. Others will follow in the Tees Valley and Dur-ham rural coalfields areas.

Employment and skills

The North-East suffers from one of the highest jobless rates in the country. Unemployment has risen by more than five per cent in the region during the last quarter, while it has fallen to a record low for the UK. The number of people out of work in the North-East went up by 9,000 to 73,000. The national average is 4.9 per cent compared to 6.7 per cent in the region.

The regional development agency One NorthEast recently launched a 20-year plan which aims, among other things, to attract talented people back to the region and stop the brain-drain to the South.

Transport

The 20-year plan drawn up by One NorthEast, along with the development agencies for the North-West and Yorkshire and Humber, suggests creating premier transport links for the North.

Among the priorities are a solution to the congestion problem on the A1 Western Bypass near the MetroCentre, increasing ship arrivals at north ports from 22 per cent of the national total in 2002 to 25 per cent in 2010, and reducing congestion on strategic roads to below the national average.

Campaigners will continue to fight, however, for spending on improvements to three of the region's most important roads - the A1, A66 and A69 which all have significant lengths still single carriageway