IN theory, regional government is an attractive idea. A vast tier of regional quangoes already exists. It spends £1bn a year in the North-East doing as its many masters in London see fit.

But do politicians and civil servants in London know what the North-East really requires? Wouldn't those decisions, about everything from economic regeneration to promotion of sport and crime reduction, be better taken by people who actually lived here and understood what our problems really are?

Wouldn't there be better cohesion if these 25 quangoes were pulled together so that they were working towards a single regional vision, rather than 25 individual visions dreamt up in London?

Wouldn't it be better if the people of the North-East had some say in what that single vision was by choosing, via elections, the people who were going to mastermind it?

In theory, the answer is a resounding 'yes'. Even leading Labour politicians, recently relieved of Government duties for a variety of reasons, like Peter Mandelson, Joyce Quin and David Clelland, agree.

But, following a General Election where the turnout was just 59 per cent, how is the ordinary man in the street going to be enthused about once more going into the polling booths to elect more politicians?

The low turnout was put down to a general disenchantment with politicians, a feeling that they were too distant from ordinary people, and that the result was a foregone conclusion.

Research like John Tomaney's, whose preliminary findings are reported in The Northern Echo today, should help with the general disenchantment. It begins to put the flesh on the theory and shows how an elected regional assembly will benefit ordinary people.

However, in the overwhelmingly Labour North-East, an election for a regional assembly would still be considered a foregone conclusion. Therefore, an electoral system needs to be devised so that all shades of opinion are represented. This might not enthuse a great many, but it will at least convince them that all their views count in this new assembly.

Finally, the assembly has to prove that it is not distant from the people. The worry of many people in central and south Durham and Teesside is that it is going to become a Tyneside-based talking shop, so Newcastle-centric in its concerns that it doesn't look south of the Tyne.

This has to be prevented if the people are to be enthused that a North-East regional assembly is something that is closely relevant to their everyday lives. And they will need this sort of detail before they are asked to agree to an assembly in a referendum.

In our view, to ensure the assembly really is central to all North-East life, it has to be based in Durham City.