This November will see a referendum on a North-East Regional Assembly.

I do not believe that a regional assembly would add any value to the North-East. Instead, it would lead to a significant increase in the levels of bureaucracy and would cost both business and the people of the North-East.

A regional assembly would have no power to make a difference to the people of the North-East. When you listen to Government ministers making statements on the benefits of a regional assembly, the word that constantly crops up is "influence".

Influence should not be confused with power. The decisions that matter will still be made in London.

The decision over whether or not to upgrade the A1 or A66 - a hugely important issue for business, tourism and general quality of life in the North-East - will still be made in London. Decisions about schools, hospitals and policing, will be made in London.

Even in the areas in which the assembly is supposed to have responsibility, such as spending their £350m grant - all of which will be taken from the existing budgets of local authorities - the Government may attach any conditions it wishes.

After the assembly has written cheques on behalf of the Government, the assembly will have discretionary spending over just a few perc ent of its budget.

While we will not benefit from more local control, the assembly would inhibit growth by inflicting higher council tax and bureaucracy on people and business. The Government claims that the assembly will only add a few pennies a week on council tax, but that is what they said for the London Assembly, and now the assembly has just added an additional £224 a year to Band D council tax this year.

I am not alone in thinking that bureaucracy will increase - an ICM poll found that 72 percent of business leaders thought that tax would rise under a regional assembly.

In another poll, 59 per cent of Service Network North-East members thought that an Assembly would create another layer of unnecessary bureaucracy.

I agree that there should be more local decision-making for local people, but a regional assembly is not the answer.

The Government should devolve power and resources to local communities and local government, not to a remote assembly, which cannot reflect the significantly different requirements of rural and urban areas.

* John Hamilton OBE, director of Lamplas Durham Ltd