# Split the UK's 'South East' region in two?



## TMiles (Feb 6, 2021)

The UK is divided into twelve regions, with four of these (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, London) granted their own assembly. 










The most populous of these is South East with over 9 million inhabitants. In comparison, the North East has a population of just over 2.5 million. As an indication that this is not a naturally coherent region, travelling from its northern to eastern part would generally require changing trains in London or driving around London's orbital motorway.

This region should clearly be divided, most naturally into:

*THAMES & SOLENT*: Bucks, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire (⬠ Reading)
*SOUTH EAST*: Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent (⬠ Brighton)
(feel free to suggest your own names; counties list as per map; ⬠ administrative centre)

In additional to a more proportional population, each new region's physical geography will be more coherent, with the first dominated by the Thames Valley and the second by the South Downs.

This reorganisation should be considered against the need for a more equal distribution of wealth, infrastructure and opportunities across the UK's regions, in addition to the benefits that appropriately sized regions can offer for greener transport and logistics.


----------



## wooger (Feb 25, 2020)

Not sure how Oxfordshire is in the South East, but Herts and Essex aren't.

Herts, Beds, Bucks and Essex all have more in common than the groupings you have there. 

I'd also say there's a stark difference between places that are mainly commuter towns into London, and places that have their own centre of mass.
Oxfordshire has Oxford. Hampshire has Southhampton, Sussex has Brighton.


----------



## Ming13 (Apr 12, 2015)

Bucks to move to Anglia and West Ox to the SW and Cherwell DC to East Midlands


----------



## No Opinion (Jun 2, 2010)

Create a new region called 'Chilterns' comprising Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Bucks, Herts, and Befordshire = approx 4.2M
Add Essex to East of England (with Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire)= Approx 4.2M
Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire as South East = approx 6.5M

Reality is Greater London boundary is arbitrary and should really incorporate large tracts of the above counties that border it, such as parts of Essex, Berkshire and Surrey. And anything within M25.


----------



## Steve the Baggie (Oct 19, 2019)

My memory is that the coalition government completely axed the concept of English regions. They seem to have crept back in to statistical use, but they still have no meaning in politics or economics, so I am not sure what purpose would be served by splitting the notional South-East region. Are parts of the current region noticeably different from each other? The obvious division to me is the divide between the commuter-belt London facing home counties and the coastal areas, but Kent and Hampshire encompass both so there is no obvious way to divide the two areas without dividing current counties.


----------

