A council says it has proof there is little enthusiasm in West Sussex for Government proposals for regional government.

West Sussex County Council says two public polls, conducted by MORI and ICM, and its own consultation with local people show residents do not want a South-East Regional Assembly.

The council's own survey revealed 98 per cent of people felt decisions affecting their areas should be made as locally as possible.

Council leader Harold Hall said: "The polls showed a majority of people wanted to have a say in any proposals for signif-icant change, such as the creation of a regional assembly, instead of having it imposed on them. That is only to be expected.

"However, a large majority believe counties look after the interests of their area better than a regional assembly would. People identify strongly with their county but hardly at all with the region."

The MORI poll, commissioned by all seven county councils in the South-East, was based on interviews with a representative sample of 1,416 residents living in West Sussex, East Sussex, Hampshire, Kent, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, and Oxfordshire.

The ICM poll, commissioned by the County Councils' Network, interviewed more than 4,000 residents in all 34 counties in England.

It showed people's enthusiasm for elected regional assemblies drop-ped markedly when they understood the impact of replacing county, district or borough councils with one or more new unitary authorities, which is a Government condition for setting up a regional assembly.

The polls, together with the comments from local people, will now form part of the council's response to a consultation by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which has to be lodged by Monday.