AS both a member of Worcester City Council and someone who originates from North East England, I would like to express how pleased I was with the result of the Referendum for the Regional Assembly.

This is not only good news for the people of that region but also for us in Worcestershire.

Regional government is an alien concept to the English and is against our national character.

When I looked deeper into the proposals for the Assembly in the North East, there were some radical plans for reorganising the local councils.

The voters were given the choice of losing historic counties like Durham or Northumberland and replaced with new unitary authorities that would have meant historic cities like Durham losing their city council, or keeping the counties but having no districts.

Hopefully, this "thumbs-down" will mean we not see any such proposals for Worcestershire.

Worcester and the south of our county has more in common with Gloucestershire than Birmingham - such regional boundaries are very arbitrary.

What we really need are local councils to be allowed to govern their own affairs without excessive central government interference. Hopefully, this ballot result will move the debate on to this area.

COUN STEPHEN HODGSON,

Worcester.