From Regionalism to Localism in England: conflict, contradiction, confusion, instability

John Tomaney

Bartlett School of Planning University College London j.tomaney@ucl.ac.uk Presentation to conference on “New Regional Governance in Ireland: Perspectives And Challenges”, Renehan Hall, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Monday 21 January 2013

Outline

• Regional institutions and economic development • UK: devolution in a multi-national state • Regional inequalities in the UK • Regionalism in England • New Labour and regionalism • Towards localism? • Conclusion: conflict, contradiction, confusion,

instability • Lessons for Ireland

Regional institutions and economic development

• Growth Factors – Infrastructure – Human capital – Labour market – Innovation – Agglomeration and

connectivity – Productivity

Source: OECD (2012) Promoting Growth in All Regions

Regional institutions and economic development

• “Institutional factors are also critical. Formal and informal institutions that facilitate negotiation and dialogue among key actors in order to mobilise and integrate them into the development process are vital, as are those that enhance policy continuity. At times, the challenge is to create institutions that strengthen the region’s “voice” in dealing with other regions and countries and those that foster linkages among the private, public and education sectors.” (25)

Source: OECD (2012) Promoting Growth in All Regions

UK: devolution in a multi-national state

Source: Authors’ elaboration of data in Hooghe, L., G. Marks et al. (2008). “Patterns of Regional Authority”, Regional and Federal Studies, 18, 2-3, 167-181.

Regional inequalities in the UK Gross domestic product (GDP) per inhabitant, in purchasing power standard (PPS), highest and lowest NUTS 2 region within each country of EU, 2008

Source: Eurostat

Source: Crafts (2005a) and BIS calculations of ONS Regional Accounts

Notes: 1. Estimates of regional GVA are on a workplace basis, where the income of commuters is allocated to their place of work. 2. Following Crafts (2005a) London and the Rest of the South East were combined into one observation for the purposes of calculating the coefficient of variance. 3. The Coefficient of Variation is a measure of dispersion calculated as: Standard Deviation/Mean.

Regional GDP per capita levels, England Standard Statistical Regions, 1871–2007

Source: Pike and Tomaney (2010)

Expenditure on Regional Industrial Assistance, 1960-2002

Source: Wren, C. (2005) “Regional grants: Are they worth it?”, Fiscal Studies, 26, 2, 245-75. (Figures are for actual grant payments at constant prices for Great Britain).

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

Employment Premiums

Automatic Investment

Support

Discretionary Assistance

Coefficient of Variation of GVA per head levels, English NUTS1 areas, 1989–2008

Regionalism in England

Schematic history of regional bodies in North-East England

Region Building in North East England 1935-1999

New Labour and regionalism

• New Labour government (1997-2010) – Context: widening regional inequalities – Commitment to regional planning – Regional Policy Commission: influenced by Scottish

and European experiences – Key advocate: John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister – “New regional policy”: Ed Balls – Means of achieving national economic objectives – (Regional government)

New Labour and regionalism

• Haughton and Allmedinger: – Spatial planning became the dominant planning doctrine during the

New Labour years. Presented as a progressive, proactive approach and contrasted with the more reactive land use planning, the spatial oeuvre promised inclusive processes and ‘win-win-win’ outcomes around sustainable development, economic growth and social justice. In England, spatial planning was strongly linked with the 2004 reforms to development planning, including the reintroduction of a regional tier of planning and the reorientation and expansion of national planning policy. Through multi-scalar and sectoral coordination and integration, ‘spatial planning’ was envisaged by some as a form of meta-spatial governance or, in more prosaic terms, concerned with ‘place-making’. Source: Haughton, G and Allmendinger, (2011) “Moving on – spatial planning to localism and beyond”, Town and Country Planning, April, 184-187

New Labour and regionalism

• Regional Development Agencies established 1999

• Regional Spatial Strategies established 2004 • Local Development Frameworks established 2004

– Replaced previous system of county level structure plans and district level local plans, and unitary development plans for unitary authorities.

– Required concordance with RSS

New Labour and regionalism

Source: Local Government Yorkshire and Humber

Regional Planning in Yorkshire, 2010

New Labour and regionalism

Source: Swain, C and Baden, T (2012) “Where next for strategic planning?”, Town and Country Planning, September, 363-368

The influence of the regional tier on policy-making and transmission

New Labour and regionalism

“…we both want to build a new economy from the rubble of the old. We will support sustainable growth and enterprise, balanced across all regions and all industries” (David Cameron, Prime Minister, and Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister, Foreword, in Cabinet Office (2010: 7) The Coalition: Our Programme for Government, Cabinet Office: London).

Towards Localism?

Towards Localism?

• “Localism” – RDAs: bureaucratic, inefficient, failed to close regional

inequalities – Centrally imposed performance targets – Central control of local budgets – Failure to deliver sufficient housing – Did not match “real economic boundaries” – Lacked democratic accountability

Source: Conservative Party (2009) Control Shift – Returning Power to Local Communities

Towards Localism?

• “Whitehall targets and unelected quangos will be scrapped, to be replaced with a democratic system for national infrastructure and incentives to promote local homes and jobs.”

• Labour's planning system "bad for democracy, bad for the environment and bad for business"

• "Too many decisions taken by unelected quangos, there is too much unnecessary red tape and there are no incentives for local residents to back sustainable development. We will put local communities in the driving seat."

Conservative Party (2010) Open Source Planning. Policy Green Paper, No 13

“If you want to rebuild a fragile national economy you don’t strangle business with red tape and let bloated regional quangos make all the decisions. Urgent action is needed to rebuild and rebalance local economies … The solution needs to be local … By giving up central control we will put democratic accountability back into the local economy making it responsive to the needs of local business and local people” (Eric Pickles quoted in BIS Press Notice, 29 June 2010, BIS: London).

Towards Localism?

Towards Localism?

Source: Department for Communities and Local Government

To the citizen

To the frontline

professional

To local groups

To the community

To a local democratic institution

National delivery

Personalised budget

GP Commissioning

Right to challenge,

LEPs?

Free Schools

Public health

Defence

Source: James Henderson, Sheffield City Council

Decentralisation

Towards Localism?

• Abolition of regional strategies • Neighbourhood development

plans • Community right to build • Requirement to consult

communities before submitting very large planning applications

• Strengthening enforcement rules

• Community infrastructure levy • Limits on the role of Planning

Inspectors • Duty to cooperate • Abolition of Infrastructure

Planning Commission

Local Enterprise Partnerships, 2011 (March)

Source: Department for Communities and Local Government

City Mayors

Source: Greg Clark, Cities Minister, “Mayoral election date confirmed”, Press Release, 9 February 2012, Department for Communities and Local Government

“Elected mayors can provide the strong, visible leadership to help our cities to prosper, attracting investment and jobs from home and abroad. Our greatest cities can benefit from the prestige and international standing a mayor can bring, helping them to achieve their full potential. For Britain to be successful our cities need to be successful. An elected mayor with a strong voice can seize the opportunities for their city to compete on the world stage”

City Deals

Source: Greg Clark, Cities Minister, “’City deals’ to be widened across England”, Press Release, 23 January 2012, Department for Communities and Local Government

“The battle for economic growth - for Britain's future, will be won or lost in our cities…The key to unlocking that potential is a new deal for cities. Giving cities the powers, control over resources, and funding they need to fire on all cylinders and attract the private sector investment needed to rebalance the economy. But this revival will depend on all of Britain's cities, not just the few…I am inviting more cities to consider the vision they have for their community and the deal they need to make it happen. We are turning the established order on its head and cities must come to Whitehall not as supplicants, as in the past, but as equal participants in an open and constructive deal making process”

City Result Yes % No % Birmingham NO 42.0 58.0

Bradford NO 44.9 55.1

Bristol YES 53.3 46.7

Coventry NO 36.4 63.6

Doncaster* YES 62.0 38.0

Leeds NO 36.7 63.3

Manchester NO 46.8 53.2

Newcastle upon Tyne NO 38.1 61.9

Nottingham NO 42.5 57.5

Sheffield NO 35.0 65.0

Wakefield NO 37.8 62.2

* Referendum to decide on whether to retain or abolish existing directly-elected mayor. Source: Department for Communities and Local Government

Mayoral referendums, May 3rd 2012

Regional Growth Fund

• £2.6 billion fund operating across England from 2011 to 2016

• Competitive fund • Minimum bid threshold of £1 million

“Whilst important, we … question whether the Regional Growth Fund … will provide a large enough incentive to access to funds to make a material difference and whether local authorities and the newly created Local Enterprise Partnerships will have the resources, fiscal powers and capacity to mitigate the impact of cuts and promote growth locally” (PricewaterhouseCoopers (2010a: 4) Sectoral and Regional Impact of the Fiscal Squeeze, PwC: London).

Estimated scale of spending cuts as % of GVA in each region by 2014/15

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers (2010) Sectoral and Regional Impact of the Fiscal Squeeze, PwC: London.

Crisis, austerity and planning

Conflict, contradiction, confusion, instability

• House of Commons Committee – “The Government must ensure that the beneficial and

positive aspects of RSSs, in particular for integrating infrastructure, economic development, housing, data collection and environment protection, are not swept away, but are retained in any new planning framework ..

– The peremptory abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies has created a hiatus in the planning framework, which risks producing a damaging inertia”

Source: House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee (2011) Abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies: a planning vacuum. Second Report of Session 2010–11. HC 517, pp55

Conflict, contradiction, confusion, instability • Heseltine: ‘the disbanding of regional development

agencies also broke up the regional teams that gave Whitehall an overview in a locality. Instead, each government department has recreated its individual empire in the regions.’1

• House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee: ‘Continual reorganisation of the public bodies charged with helping to spark regeneration across the regions is likely to limit the ability of the retained and new organisations to keep that stored knowledge and experience over time.’2 1. M. Heseltine: ‘We’ll only mend society from the bottom up’. The Times, 23 Aug. 2011

2. Regeneration. HC 1014. Sixth Report of Session 2010-12. House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee, 2011. www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmcomloc/1014/1014.pdf

Conflict, contradiction, confusion, instability

• Heseltine Review • Wide-ranging review of “growth policy”

– Problems: Drift to centralism, lack of devolution, complexity of local government system

– Solutions: single funding pot, LEPs → long-term strategy/capacity building/functional economic area, Local Growth Teams, single tier local government, elected Mayors

Conflict, contradiction, confusion, instability

• North East England – “Lack of continuity in governance and policy. The

institutional instability in the UK has been particularly problematic for the city region due to a relative lack of bottom up initiatives among its own stakeholders which might have provided stability and policy co-ordination”.

• OECD (2012) Promoting Growth in All Regions, p176

Conflict, contradiction, confusion, instability

• Accumulated and entrenched regional disparities • Long history of interventions – but no long-term

strategies • Comparatively weak local and regional institutions

characterised by cycles of instability • Intermittent and partial role of evidence • Regional versus local – ideology and scale in English

politics

Dorling, D. and Hennig, B. D. (2010). In Focus: General Election 2010. Political Insight1 (2): 72.

Lessons for Ireland?

• Regional institutions matter • Stability and long-term perspectives make a

difference in regional planning and economic development

• Consensus and bottom-up versus partisan and top-down approaches

Acknowledgement

– Collaborators: Andy Pike, Peter O’Brien, David Marlow and Anja McCarthy at Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, Newcastle University

– Project has been undertaken as part of the Spatial Economics Research Centre (SERC) funded by Economic and Social Research Council, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Department for Communities and Local Government and the Welsh Assembly Government. (See: www.spatialeconomics.ac.uk)

– Reference: McCarthy, A; Pike, A; Tomaney, J (2012) “The governance of economic development in England”, Town and Country Planning, 81 (3): 126-130