The New Governance of the English Regions

The New Governance of the English Regions

The New Governance of the English Regions Mark Sandford Research Fellow, Constitution Unit, University College, London

* Mark Sandford 2005 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2005 978-1-4039-9282-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2005 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-54376-2 ISBN 978-0-230-51322-8 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230513228 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sandford, Mark, 1975- The new governance of the English regions I Mark Sandford. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Regionalism--Political aspects-great Britain. 2. Decentralization in government-great Britain. 3. Great Britain-Politics and government-1997-1. Title. JN297.R44S36 2005 320. 54'0942'09051-<lc22 2005049998 10 9 14 13 8 12 7 11 6 5 4 3 10 09 08 07 2 1 06 OS Transferred to Digital Printing 20 II

Contents List of Tables Foreword Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Conclusion: Appendix Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Notes Bibliography Index The Death and Life of English Regions The Roots of the English Regions Institutional Developments in the English Regions The Rise of Governance in the English Regions New Labour and Regionalisation: Chalk and Cheese or Slow New Dawn? Devolution is a Process Not a Policy: The Three Pillars of English Regional Governance Strategic Co-ordination: Hidden Hand or Talking Shop? Regional Scrutiny: Accountability in Network Governance Civic Engagement in the English Regions The Ninth, or First, English Region? New Governance and Democratic Politics in London Network Governance and the Westminster State vi vii 1 13 37 69 94 121 144 164 184 207 230 240 240 241 242 246 253 272 v

List of Tables Table 3.1 Government Office spending 43 Table 3.2 Executive agencies in the English regions 46 Table 3.3 RDA budgets at establishment and for 2003-4 48 Table 3.4 Functions of Regional Chambers proposed before 1997 52 Table 3.5 Regional Chambers/ Assemblies : vital statistics 56 Table 3.6 Regional Chamber committees, commissions and key groups 59 Table 3.7 Executive functions of elected assemblies 63 Table 3.8 'Influencing' functions of regional assemblies 64 Table 4.1 Rhodes's network typology (1997:38) 76 Table 7.1 Final round of Regional Planning Guidance 148 Table 7.2 Planning grant in the English regions, 2003-4 151 Table 7.3 Comparison of regional strategies 154 Table 8.1 Scrutiny structures in the Regional Chambers 173 Table 8.2 Scrutiny in the London Assembly, 2005 174 Table 9.1 Social and economic partner groups on Regional Chambers - membership by category 191 Table 9.2 Policy forums and similar organisations in the English regions 196 Table 10.1 Labour Assembly members: the London 'Cabinet' 213 Table 10.2 GLA strategies and their publication dates 215 Table AI Regional government structures before the introduction of an elected assembly 242 Table A2 Regional government structures after the introduction of an elected assembly 244 vi

Foreword This book has been four years in the making, and thanks are therefore due to a large number of people. Funding bodies which have supported my research projects during that time, and which allowed me to develop my interest and to obtain many fascinating contacts and data, were the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, the Yorkshire & Humber Assembly, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Royal Society for the Arts, the Campaign for the English Regions, the ESRC and the King's Fund: my thanks to all of them. Thanks are also due to the many individuals, some very busy, who gave up their time to be interviewed (many more than once) for those research projects. Naturally, the arguments contained in the book are mine and do not reflect the views of these institutions. Thanks are also due to the following people who agreed to read chapters of the book and provided very helpful comments: Jo Dungey, Michael Keating, Paul McQuail, Matthew Flinders, Anna Batchelor, Keith Shaw, Stephen Syrett, Andy Pike, Mark Tewdwr-Jones, Tony Travers and Jane Martin. I also acknowledge permission from Professor Charlie Jeffery to use Chapter 9, which is a heavily-edited version of a paper which appeared in Regional and Federal Studies in 2005. I must also thank my colleagues and ex-colleagues at the Constitution Unit, University College London: in particular, Lucinda Maer, for her research work on effective scrutiny; Meg Russell, for advice on writing and planning books; Scott Greer, for advice on publishing, comments on the final text and intellectual inspiration; Corinna Matthews for information-gathering; and Professor Robert Hazell, for general encouragement and support. Responsibility for the final content, and the argument, remains my own. I should also like to thank Alison Howson at Palgrave for agreeing to publish the book and for her support throughout the editing process, plus also two anonymous reviewers, whose comments were particularly useful in sharpening up the chapter structure and the overall framework of the book. Finally, many, many thanks and love to Clare, who has put up with evening after evening of my being present in body but not in mind during the completion of this work, and to Stephen for smiles and cuddles. Mark Sandford 2005 vii