Carsten, I wasn't actually suggesting scrapping grading bands. I don't see any need for that at all - if appropriately set they are a far better way than league chess at enabling people to play opponents of a similar standard. I was just suggesting that by having these bands set nationally, in order to enable a national competition to take place, the result is that counties in different regions will struggle to sustain viable competitions. As has been noted there appear to be quite stark regional differences depending how the bandings are set. Better perhaps to scrap the national stages and let individual unions tailor their grading limited competitions to their own player profiles.
Another point (I don't know if it has an validity) is that there may be regional variations in how certain levels of strength translate to ECF grades. At amateur level most people play almost all of their chess in their own regions - from club chess up to county chess (and including weekend congresses to some extent). Considering ECF grades are a measure of relative strength is it possible that a grade of, say 175, could mean different things in different parts of the country due to the isolated subgroups that form, thus invalidating the whole concept of a national grading limited competition?