Abstract
State-led restructuring of sub-national economic governance and regeneration has been rapidly evolving over the past year or so across England. With several waves of cross-boundary Local Enterprise Partnerships approved by the UK Government, it is opportune to take stock of some of the more notable shifts. Building on a preliminary analytical mapping of the rocky road from regionalism to sub-regional localism, the paper pays particular attention to the politicised process underpinning the alliances, and crafting, development and subsequent submission of LEP proposals, as well as the eventual assessment and state sanctioning of LEP bids. Examining the process from a variety of perspectives, the paper highlights unequal power relations and extracts a number of powerful policy considerations. The paper propounds the argument that the rhetoric of permissive policy masks centralist controlling tendencies and unwritten rules.
Pugalis, L. (2011) 'Look before you LEP', Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal, 5 (1), 7-22.
2012 Rebalancing England: Sub-National Development (Once Again) at the Crossr...Lee Pugalis
Abstract
Over the last two decades there has been continuous tinkering and wholesale review of the remit, governance and territorial focus of sub-national development in England. There has also been mounting agreement that subsidiarity will produce optimum material outcomes. It is against this background that we provide a critical reading of the UK Coalition government’s 2010 ‘White Paper’ on Local Growth. Revealing the peculiarities of an economic transition plan which dismantled a regional (strategic) framework, we explore the opportunities that cross-boundary Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) may provide. After abandoning regions, LEPs have been promoted as the only possible ‘replacements’ for Regional Development Agencies and, thus, a prime example of new ‘techniques of government’. We probe the potentials and pitfalls from the dash to establish new sub-national techniques of government, and crystallise some key implications that apply beyond the shores of England. Our key contention is that LEPs have designed-in just as many issues as they have designed-out.
Pugalis, L. & Townsend, A. R. (2012) 'Rebalancing England: Sub-National Development (Once Again) at the Crossroads', Urban Research & Practice, 5 (1), 159-176.
2012 After Regions: what next for LEPs - Pugalis and ShuttLee Pugalis
Standing out as an oddity in comparison to the convergence of policy across EU nations whereby the merits of regional apparatus – however defined – for administering development support appear to be accepted, the UK Government has abandoned England’s experiment with regionalism. Under the banner of localism, providing the thinnest of masks for swingeing public expenditure cuts, sub-national development activity (encompassing planning, regeneration, infrastructure development, enterprise support and spatial leadership) is in the throes of considerable economic shifts, policy flux and institutional upheaval (Ward & Hardy, 2012).
This article attempts to address some of the questions posed in The regional lacuna: a preliminary map of the transition from Regional Development Agencies to Local Economic Partnerships (Pugalis, 2011) and helps to advance some of the points relating to the emerging sub-national development landscape published in recent issues of Regions (e.g. Bailey, 2011). The purpose is to take stock of policy developments underway by means of a post-regional sub-national review in order to outline the future development trajectory of Local Enterprise Partnerships.
OECD Forum on Financing Democracy and Averting Policy Capture - AgendaOECD Governance
Forum to investigate the influence of money on public policies and to find ways of preventing policy capture by narrow private interests. http://www.oecd.org/gov/ethics/financing-democracy-and-averting-policy-capture-forum-2014.htm
2012 Rebalancing England: Sub-National Development (Once Again) at the Crossr...Lee Pugalis
Abstract
Over the last two decades there has been continuous tinkering and wholesale review of the remit, governance and territorial focus of sub-national development in England. There has also been mounting agreement that subsidiarity will produce optimum material outcomes. It is against this background that we provide a critical reading of the UK Coalition government’s 2010 ‘White Paper’ on Local Growth. Revealing the peculiarities of an economic transition plan which dismantled a regional (strategic) framework, we explore the opportunities that cross-boundary Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) may provide. After abandoning regions, LEPs have been promoted as the only possible ‘replacements’ for Regional Development Agencies and, thus, a prime example of new ‘techniques of government’. We probe the potentials and pitfalls from the dash to establish new sub-national techniques of government, and crystallise some key implications that apply beyond the shores of England. Our key contention is that LEPs have designed-in just as many issues as they have designed-out.
Pugalis, L. & Townsend, A. R. (2012) 'Rebalancing England: Sub-National Development (Once Again) at the Crossroads', Urban Research & Practice, 5 (1), 159-176.
2012 After Regions: what next for LEPs - Pugalis and ShuttLee Pugalis
Standing out as an oddity in comparison to the convergence of policy across EU nations whereby the merits of regional apparatus – however defined – for administering development support appear to be accepted, the UK Government has abandoned England’s experiment with regionalism. Under the banner of localism, providing the thinnest of masks for swingeing public expenditure cuts, sub-national development activity (encompassing planning, regeneration, infrastructure development, enterprise support and spatial leadership) is in the throes of considerable economic shifts, policy flux and institutional upheaval (Ward & Hardy, 2012).
This article attempts to address some of the questions posed in The regional lacuna: a preliminary map of the transition from Regional Development Agencies to Local Economic Partnerships (Pugalis, 2011) and helps to advance some of the points relating to the emerging sub-national development landscape published in recent issues of Regions (e.g. Bailey, 2011). The purpose is to take stock of policy developments underway by means of a post-regional sub-national review in order to outline the future development trajectory of Local Enterprise Partnerships.
OECD Forum on Financing Democracy and Averting Policy Capture - AgendaOECD Governance
Forum to investigate the influence of money on public policies and to find ways of preventing policy capture by narrow private interests. http://www.oecd.org/gov/ethics/financing-democracy-and-averting-policy-capture-forum-2014.htm
The paper is concerned with the history of the Finnish incomes policy, covering the period from the Second World War to the present. It deals with the Finnish incomes policy as a special type of political exchange between the social partners and the Government. In pursuing wage moderation, governments have used welfare reforms as a means of exchange for solving certain externalities arising in wage bargaining. The continuity of political exchange between the social partners and the Government requires a common ground of values and trust. In the paper, these prerequisites are characterised by the use of the concept of social capital. Social capital can be interpreted as a relationship of horizontal trust between the social partners and the Government. This interpretation is closely related to Bo Rothstein’s concept of organised social capital. Accordingly, the paper emphasises the importance of the institutional framework within which incomes policy negotiations have been carried out as an important promoter of social capital between the social partners and the Government. The paper also emphasises the importance of centrally negotiated incomes policy agreements as an important institutional framework within which the Finnish welfare state has evolved. For example, the earnings-related pension scheme has been developed mostly within the framework. The paper discusses not only the history but also the present and the future of the Finnish incomes policy. Owing to the traditionally close relationship between centrally negotiated incomes policy agreements and welfare reforms, the end of centrally negotiated incomes policy agreements declared by one of the social partners, the Confederation of Finnish Industries, is likely to affect not only the manner in which wages are negotiated in the future but also the tradition of political exchange between the social partners and the Government. The end of centrally negotiated incomes policy agreements may put an end to political exchange, too. Furthermore, it may give rise to a deterioration of social capital between the social partners.
The results of the first decade of economic transition are very uneven and are distributed according to a sub-regional pattern. The group of "leading reformers" consists of middle-income countries of democratic capitalism of the Central Europe and Baltic region (CEB). The second group of less advanced reformers includes mainly lower- and lower-middle-income countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) where both capitalism and democracy are still immature and sometimes heavily distorted.
This differentiation can be explained mainly by the adopted transition strategies and political factors determining them. Also the perspective of the European integration has played an important leveraging role. Fast reforms allowed for shortening the period of a temporary system vacuum, breaking down the inertia of the old system, and exploiting maximally the initial political window of opportunity.
The ability of individual countries to follow the effective (i.e. fast) reform strategy was determined by the scale of the initial political changes and further developments in the sphere of institutional and political reform. Generally, a very strong correlation between the progress in political and economic reforms could be observed.
Looking at the role of specific institutional solutions one must underline the advantage of the parliamentary or parliamentary-presidential regime over the presidential or presidential-parliamentary system. The former helped to build the transparent and relatively stable system of the political parties while the latter contributed to political fragmentation, irresponsible legislature and oligarchic capitalism.
Authored by: Marek Dabrowski, Radzislawa Gortat
Published in 2002
The conflicting behavior of the government institutions in the arrangement of...QUESTJOURNAL
ABSTRACT : This study aims to explain the behavior of the conflict between the executive and legislative institution at the stage of preparation of Public Policy Budget (KUA), the stage of preparation of Priorities and Budget Ceiling While (PPAS) and the stage of discussion of the Draft Budget and Expenditure (budgets) Government as well as to analyze models of conflict resolution between the executive and the legislature in the arrangement of local income and budget expenditures (RAPBD) Government. Informants namely the executive, in this case the Local Government and legislature are members of the Assembly of Regency or Municipality (DPRD). The general inductive approach was used to analyze the qualitative data through data reduction, presentation and verification. The study found that there was disagreement and debate between the executive and the legislature that cause conflict behavior in determining the theme of development, development priorities, plans macroeconomic targets and strategies to achieve revenue, financing and expenditures at the stage of preparation of KUA Government. There is disagreement in the determination of the Own-Source Revenue plan (PAD), determination of financing, income and expenditure, the determination of regional government affairs, prioritization of programs and activities and the determination of employee expenses, interest, grants, social assistance and expenditure unexpected cause behavioral conflict between the executive and legislative determination PPAS Government. There is a debate that raises conflict behavior between the executive and legislature in the Plenary Session, Joint Meeting, RAPBD Evaluation Meeting, the Plenary Session of Approval and Evaluation Meeting of Governors discussed the draft budget of the Government.
This article analyzes the history of the World Bank during its first fifty years. It is argued that since its beginnings the Bank has used credit as a lever to expand its influ-ence and institutionalize economic ideas, concepts of the world, and political prescrip-tions in client states. Behind its technical façade, the Bank has always acted, albeit in different forms, in the interface of the political, economic, and intellectual fields at the international level, due to its singular condition as a lender, political actor, and inductor of ideas and prescriptions about what to do in questions of capitalist development, from an Anglo-Saxon perspective. Based on a wide and varied international literature and the sources of the institution itself, the text approaches the theme taking into account the US policy towards the institution, changes in international economic policy, and the principal
deisios of the Baks oad.
An analytical paper, prepared by IFES in cooperation with Center of Policy and Legal Reform, Chesno Civic Movement and the Committee of Voters of Ukraine.
Recently several countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, have at least partially reversed their earlier moves towards compulsory defined-contribution schemes. This paper concentrates on Poland, which just reduced contributions going to the mandatory second pillar from 7.3 to 2.3% of earnings with that amount diverted to the public pension regime (ZUS).
Trying to solve the problem of public finance sustainability by radically shrinking the second tier of the pension system has obvious costs in terms of poverty among old-age pensioners. Their incomes will fall sharply relative to those of working-age population. Partially reversing pension reform will also cost Poland in terms of risk spreading and capital market development. It will also undermine the population's trust in the system. There is no alternative for achieving public finance sustainability but to restrain current spending and/or raise taxes. The pensionable age should be raised further (probably to 70 by mid-century), even in the general scheme, to deal with the long-run demographic challenge and be equalized across the two sexes. The authorities should move to unify pension provision systems, in particular by phasing out the farmers' regime (KRUS) and making pensions for miners and others with special regimes closer to actuarially neutral.
Authored by: Peter Jarrett
Published in 2011
Presentation by Dóra Györffy at the OECD Workshop on “Joint Learning for an OECD Trust Strategy” on 14 October 2013. Ms. Györffy discusses trust in-depth including its relationship with decision-making, economic policy, popularity of government and its influence on the crisis.
Sub-national economic development: Where do we go from here? Pugalis 2011Lee Pugalis
The UK’s Liberal Democrat–Conservative (Lib–Con) Coalition Government has been quickly dismantling New Labour’s policy framework since it gained political control in May 2010. Contemplating how this transition might play out and the impact upon regeneration policy, a preliminary map of the road from the incumbent English Regional Development Agencies to myriad Local Enterprise Partnerships is sketched out. The analytic interpretations are based on insights ‘in the field’ over the past decade and grounded in policy ‘chatter’. Reflecting on the importance of timing, resource availability and the policy vacuum arising between localities and national government, attention is drawn to countless questions that remain unanswered. Further, the Lib–Con’s sub-national economic policy architecture is demonstrated as remaining very much work in progress. The paper highlights that the current transitional period is likely to be disorderly and possibly ineffective: deconstruction is all well and good if the alternative reconstructions offer added value, but the potential to lose out is significant. While hope is expressed with a localism agenda which could potentially empower localities to devise unique policy solutions administered by tailored spatial configurations, it is cautioned that new spatio-institutional ‘fixes’ may open up new issues just as old ones are closed off. A policy story still being written, the analysis is of broader international appeal. Consequently, those plying their trade outside England can reflect on this and act accordingly the next time a new (and presumably better) policy innovation is proposed
2012 The governance of economic regeneration in England: Emerging practice an...Lee Pugalis
Abstract
How spatial economies are governed across the different places of England recently (re)commenced a process of fervent renegotiation following the 2010 election of a coalition government. As the third paper in a series examining state-led restructuring of sub-national development, the principal concern and analytical focus of this paper is the evolving governance landscape. Based on a review of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), the state reterritorialisation strategy is explored. Analysing the motives, interests, attributes and accountability of some primary actors entangled in these new and recast multilevel governance networks, the paper directs some much needed critical attention towards ‘the who’ aspects of economic regeneration partnership working. The paper argues that if LEPs are to be understood as a radical departure from what has gone before, then the form and mode of governance must, in turn, undergo a radical transformation of substance that transcends symbolic politics.
Pugalis, L. (2012) 'The governance of economic regeneration in England: Emerging practice and issues', Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal, 5 (3).
New directions in economic development localism act bentley and pugalisLee Pugalis
Since entering office in 2010, a distinct grammar of localism has pervaded the UK Government’s philosophical outlook, which has inflected localist policy discourses and practice. Now that the Coalition administration’s ‘local’ economic development policy is becoming a little clearer, it is timely to consider the implications of this new grammar for the scope, organisation and mobilisation of economic development interventions. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to trace new and emergent directions in economic development through a focus on the 2011 Localism Act, which applies to England and Wales. The paper interprets these changes through a localist conceptual prism, which helps to refract different varieties of localism. The findings raise some serious concerns regarding localism in action and expose the controlling tendencies of central government. Analysis is also directed towards the uneasy relationship between centralised powers, conditional decentralisation and fragmented localism. Nevertheless, some cases of emergent practice are utilised to demonstrate how ‘constrained freedoms’ can be negotiated to undertake innovative actions. The paper concludes by suggesting some foundational elements that would support the notion of ‘empowered localities’ and may also secure the government’s imperative to enable private sector-led growth.
Key words
2011 Localism Act, local economic development, Local Enterprise Partnerships, Economic Prosperity Boards, Combined Authorities
Bentley, G. & Pugalis, L. (2013) 'New directions in economic development: localist policy discourses and the Localism Act', Local Economy
Community-led regeneration is a laudable ideal, but unless the means of enabling the regeneration of distressed communities are put in place, many could be left facing further degeneration, deprivation and destitution
The paper is concerned with the history of the Finnish incomes policy, covering the period from the Second World War to the present. It deals with the Finnish incomes policy as a special type of political exchange between the social partners and the Government. In pursuing wage moderation, governments have used welfare reforms as a means of exchange for solving certain externalities arising in wage bargaining. The continuity of political exchange between the social partners and the Government requires a common ground of values and trust. In the paper, these prerequisites are characterised by the use of the concept of social capital. Social capital can be interpreted as a relationship of horizontal trust between the social partners and the Government. This interpretation is closely related to Bo Rothstein’s concept of organised social capital. Accordingly, the paper emphasises the importance of the institutional framework within which incomes policy negotiations have been carried out as an important promoter of social capital between the social partners and the Government. The paper also emphasises the importance of centrally negotiated incomes policy agreements as an important institutional framework within which the Finnish welfare state has evolved. For example, the earnings-related pension scheme has been developed mostly within the framework. The paper discusses not only the history but also the present and the future of the Finnish incomes policy. Owing to the traditionally close relationship between centrally negotiated incomes policy agreements and welfare reforms, the end of centrally negotiated incomes policy agreements declared by one of the social partners, the Confederation of Finnish Industries, is likely to affect not only the manner in which wages are negotiated in the future but also the tradition of political exchange between the social partners and the Government. The end of centrally negotiated incomes policy agreements may put an end to political exchange, too. Furthermore, it may give rise to a deterioration of social capital between the social partners.
The results of the first decade of economic transition are very uneven and are distributed according to a sub-regional pattern. The group of "leading reformers" consists of middle-income countries of democratic capitalism of the Central Europe and Baltic region (CEB). The second group of less advanced reformers includes mainly lower- and lower-middle-income countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) where both capitalism and democracy are still immature and sometimes heavily distorted.
This differentiation can be explained mainly by the adopted transition strategies and political factors determining them. Also the perspective of the European integration has played an important leveraging role. Fast reforms allowed for shortening the period of a temporary system vacuum, breaking down the inertia of the old system, and exploiting maximally the initial political window of opportunity.
The ability of individual countries to follow the effective (i.e. fast) reform strategy was determined by the scale of the initial political changes and further developments in the sphere of institutional and political reform. Generally, a very strong correlation between the progress in political and economic reforms could be observed.
Looking at the role of specific institutional solutions one must underline the advantage of the parliamentary or parliamentary-presidential regime over the presidential or presidential-parliamentary system. The former helped to build the transparent and relatively stable system of the political parties while the latter contributed to political fragmentation, irresponsible legislature and oligarchic capitalism.
Authored by: Marek Dabrowski, Radzislawa Gortat
Published in 2002
The conflicting behavior of the government institutions in the arrangement of...QUESTJOURNAL
ABSTRACT : This study aims to explain the behavior of the conflict between the executive and legislative institution at the stage of preparation of Public Policy Budget (KUA), the stage of preparation of Priorities and Budget Ceiling While (PPAS) and the stage of discussion of the Draft Budget and Expenditure (budgets) Government as well as to analyze models of conflict resolution between the executive and the legislature in the arrangement of local income and budget expenditures (RAPBD) Government. Informants namely the executive, in this case the Local Government and legislature are members of the Assembly of Regency or Municipality (DPRD). The general inductive approach was used to analyze the qualitative data through data reduction, presentation and verification. The study found that there was disagreement and debate between the executive and the legislature that cause conflict behavior in determining the theme of development, development priorities, plans macroeconomic targets and strategies to achieve revenue, financing and expenditures at the stage of preparation of KUA Government. There is disagreement in the determination of the Own-Source Revenue plan (PAD), determination of financing, income and expenditure, the determination of regional government affairs, prioritization of programs and activities and the determination of employee expenses, interest, grants, social assistance and expenditure unexpected cause behavioral conflict between the executive and legislative determination PPAS Government. There is a debate that raises conflict behavior between the executive and legislature in the Plenary Session, Joint Meeting, RAPBD Evaluation Meeting, the Plenary Session of Approval and Evaluation Meeting of Governors discussed the draft budget of the Government.
This article analyzes the history of the World Bank during its first fifty years. It is argued that since its beginnings the Bank has used credit as a lever to expand its influ-ence and institutionalize economic ideas, concepts of the world, and political prescrip-tions in client states. Behind its technical façade, the Bank has always acted, albeit in different forms, in the interface of the political, economic, and intellectual fields at the international level, due to its singular condition as a lender, political actor, and inductor of ideas and prescriptions about what to do in questions of capitalist development, from an Anglo-Saxon perspective. Based on a wide and varied international literature and the sources of the institution itself, the text approaches the theme taking into account the US policy towards the institution, changes in international economic policy, and the principal
deisios of the Baks oad.
An analytical paper, prepared by IFES in cooperation with Center of Policy and Legal Reform, Chesno Civic Movement and the Committee of Voters of Ukraine.
Recently several countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, have at least partially reversed their earlier moves towards compulsory defined-contribution schemes. This paper concentrates on Poland, which just reduced contributions going to the mandatory second pillar from 7.3 to 2.3% of earnings with that amount diverted to the public pension regime (ZUS).
Trying to solve the problem of public finance sustainability by radically shrinking the second tier of the pension system has obvious costs in terms of poverty among old-age pensioners. Their incomes will fall sharply relative to those of working-age population. Partially reversing pension reform will also cost Poland in terms of risk spreading and capital market development. It will also undermine the population's trust in the system. There is no alternative for achieving public finance sustainability but to restrain current spending and/or raise taxes. The pensionable age should be raised further (probably to 70 by mid-century), even in the general scheme, to deal with the long-run demographic challenge and be equalized across the two sexes. The authorities should move to unify pension provision systems, in particular by phasing out the farmers' regime (KRUS) and making pensions for miners and others with special regimes closer to actuarially neutral.
Authored by: Peter Jarrett
Published in 2011
Presentation by Dóra Györffy at the OECD Workshop on “Joint Learning for an OECD Trust Strategy” on 14 October 2013. Ms. Györffy discusses trust in-depth including its relationship with decision-making, economic policy, popularity of government and its influence on the crisis.
Sub-national economic development: Where do we go from here? Pugalis 2011Lee Pugalis
The UK’s Liberal Democrat–Conservative (Lib–Con) Coalition Government has been quickly dismantling New Labour’s policy framework since it gained political control in May 2010. Contemplating how this transition might play out and the impact upon regeneration policy, a preliminary map of the road from the incumbent English Regional Development Agencies to myriad Local Enterprise Partnerships is sketched out. The analytic interpretations are based on insights ‘in the field’ over the past decade and grounded in policy ‘chatter’. Reflecting on the importance of timing, resource availability and the policy vacuum arising between localities and national government, attention is drawn to countless questions that remain unanswered. Further, the Lib–Con’s sub-national economic policy architecture is demonstrated as remaining very much work in progress. The paper highlights that the current transitional period is likely to be disorderly and possibly ineffective: deconstruction is all well and good if the alternative reconstructions offer added value, but the potential to lose out is significant. While hope is expressed with a localism agenda which could potentially empower localities to devise unique policy solutions administered by tailored spatial configurations, it is cautioned that new spatio-institutional ‘fixes’ may open up new issues just as old ones are closed off. A policy story still being written, the analysis is of broader international appeal. Consequently, those plying their trade outside England can reflect on this and act accordingly the next time a new (and presumably better) policy innovation is proposed
2012 The governance of economic regeneration in England: Emerging practice an...Lee Pugalis
Abstract
How spatial economies are governed across the different places of England recently (re)commenced a process of fervent renegotiation following the 2010 election of a coalition government. As the third paper in a series examining state-led restructuring of sub-national development, the principal concern and analytical focus of this paper is the evolving governance landscape. Based on a review of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), the state reterritorialisation strategy is explored. Analysing the motives, interests, attributes and accountability of some primary actors entangled in these new and recast multilevel governance networks, the paper directs some much needed critical attention towards ‘the who’ aspects of economic regeneration partnership working. The paper argues that if LEPs are to be understood as a radical departure from what has gone before, then the form and mode of governance must, in turn, undergo a radical transformation of substance that transcends symbolic politics.
Pugalis, L. (2012) 'The governance of economic regeneration in England: Emerging practice and issues', Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal, 5 (3).
New directions in economic development localism act bentley and pugalisLee Pugalis
Since entering office in 2010, a distinct grammar of localism has pervaded the UK Government’s philosophical outlook, which has inflected localist policy discourses and practice. Now that the Coalition administration’s ‘local’ economic development policy is becoming a little clearer, it is timely to consider the implications of this new grammar for the scope, organisation and mobilisation of economic development interventions. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to trace new and emergent directions in economic development through a focus on the 2011 Localism Act, which applies to England and Wales. The paper interprets these changes through a localist conceptual prism, which helps to refract different varieties of localism. The findings raise some serious concerns regarding localism in action and expose the controlling tendencies of central government. Analysis is also directed towards the uneasy relationship between centralised powers, conditional decentralisation and fragmented localism. Nevertheless, some cases of emergent practice are utilised to demonstrate how ‘constrained freedoms’ can be negotiated to undertake innovative actions. The paper concludes by suggesting some foundational elements that would support the notion of ‘empowered localities’ and may also secure the government’s imperative to enable private sector-led growth.
Key words
2011 Localism Act, local economic development, Local Enterprise Partnerships, Economic Prosperity Boards, Combined Authorities
Bentley, G. & Pugalis, L. (2013) 'New directions in economic development: localist policy discourses and the Localism Act', Local Economy
Community-led regeneration is a laudable ideal, but unless the means of enabling the regeneration of distressed communities are put in place, many could be left facing further degeneration, deprivation and destitution
2012 au revoir regions where now for eu funding - pugalis and fisherLee Pugalis
The Coalition Government’s rejection of regions, understood here as a spatial unit for managing sub-national development activity, remains politically and spatially ‘out of synch’ with EU regional policy. It is within this context that some important policy and delivery quandaries arise within and across the former English regions.
2010 Can LEPs fill the strategic void? - pugalis and townsendLee Pugalis
For the first time since 1947, England is without a recognised strategic planning framework following the revocation of Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs). Articles in the June and July/August issues of this journal have variously criticised the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government for opening up a ‘NIMBY charter’ and inviting ‘chaos’ through an ‘act now, think later’ policy approach of ‘rampaging through the English planning system’. By removing the layer of strategic planning in one fell swoop, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has left the planning fraternity to muddle through the mess. It is not our intent to retrace these arguments here. Instead we look, through a pragmatic lens, at the Coalition’s new policy innovation – the Local Enterprise Partnership – and consider how far this may go to filling the strategic void. We argue that there is a strong case for ‘the suggestion that Local Enterprise Partnerships may fulfil a planning function’, as currently being examined by the Communities and Local Government Committee (CLG) Inquiry into the Abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies. However, as we sketch out a role for planning in the Government’s economic transition plan, we draw attention to several potential pitfalls along the way.
2012 Rescaling of Planning and its Interface with Economic Development - puga...Lee Pugalis
Abstract
Following the installation of a UK Coalition Government in 2010, ways of governing the spatial organisation of development have undergone far-reaching change in England. Within a context of austerity following the abolition of regional policy machinery, and an onerous national target framework, localities are entering a new phase of incentivised development. Consequently, Local Planning Authorities are having to transfer part of their focus from government’s ‘top-down’ requirements, as they come to embrace more adequately ‘bottom-up’ neighbourhood scale plans. Analysing the path of change, especially at the interface between planning and economic development, the paper draws attention to the dilemmas arising from these crucial scale shifts, and explores the potential of sub-national governance entities – Local Enterprise Partnerships – to help resolve the strategic co-ordination of planning.
2009 SNR a story of compromise - pugalisLee Pugalis
The eagerly anticipated Government response to the Treasury instigated Review of sub-national economic development and regeneration (July 2007), was published on 25 November 2008 after taking stock of the 500 plus consultation responses. Building on my critique of the Department of Communities and Local Government’s publication: Transforming places; changing lives A framework for regeneration (July 2008) in the previous edition of this journal, I use the space here to cogently review how Government will take forward and implement its sub-national review of economic development and regeneration (SNR).
Pugalis, L. (2009) 'SNR – a story of compromise', Economic Development, 107, pp. 6-7.
2011- English regions disbanded: European funding and economic regeneration i...Lee Pugalis
Abstract
The investiture of a UK Coalition Government in 2010 heralded the (ongoing) production of new sub-national geographies of governance in England. Of primary concern is the disbanding of the English regions, outside of London, which were New Labour’s preferred scale for ‘managing’ economic regeneration during the 2000s. In a bid to rollback the role of the state as part of their deficit reduction plan, the Coalition embarked on a political rescaling strategy resulting in various institutional reconfigurations. This rescaling of state power has significant policy implications in the context of European funding, which is the focus of this paper. By analysing a field of policy activity during a period of significant motion, the intent is to highlight some notable dilemmas, aided by posing some practical questions; in order to prompt some much needed policy discussion and academic deliberation.
Pugalis, L. & Fisher, B. (2011) 'English regions disbanded: European funding and economic regeneration implications', Local Economy, 26 (6/7), pp. 500-516.
2008 a framework for regeneration more questions than answers - pugalisLee Pugalis
A recent consultation report from the Department of Communities and Local Government which goes by the rhetorical title of, Transforming places; changing lives A framework for regeneration, goes some way to laying the groundwork for proposals first set out in the Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration (SNR). The framework proclaims to set out ‘an ambitious package of proposals – for consultation – that aim to shape the way that regeneration is carried out in future in England’. Yet upon reading the report’s 159 pages one is left with a strange feeling of déjà vu. This is followed by a suspicion that much of what Government are suggesting is already a done deal; with many economic development officers and policy-makers already busy working on the package of proposals. I shall briefly summarise the key measures of the framework before questioning the timing of this consultation in light of the determination of regional funding allocations.
Pugalis, L. (2008) 'A framework for regeneration: more questions than answers', The Journal of the Institution of Economic Development, (106), pp. 7.
IEU budget and policy reforms to promote economic growthJorge Nunez Ferrer
This report was prepared for the ITPS in connection to an assignment from the Ministry of
Finance on future reforms of the EU budget. It addresses some of the key issues at stake
when discussing possible reforms of the EU Budget before the upcoming review of the
long-term budget 2008–2009.
China Analysis - Third Plenary Session of the 18th Party CongressBrunswick Group
Brunswick’s team in China have put together an overview of some of the key take-aways from the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Party Congress. This is a critical meeting in the Chinese political cycle and the output from this specific meeting will influence the country’s economic development over the next five-to-ten year period. It also marks one year in office for Xi Jinping and the new leadership team.
BIS LEPs and RGF inquiry pugalis bentley gibbons shuttLee Pugalis
The evidence summarised in this submission is based on the national research project: From Regionalism to Localism: Cross Country LEPs. The aim of this research is to monitor what steps are being taken by LEPs to support businesses to create jobs and support the development of local economies. The research explores the issues arising from the formation of the LEPs over their first three years, 2010-2013 and is monitoring the journey of the LEPs nationally. LEPs are the chief vehicle for economic development within the context of localism but are delivering national level initiatives, such as Enterprise Zones. Indeed, they have been set a considerable challenge – uniting business, public and community interests in a way that enables the economic regeneration and growth of local places. The research drills-down to focus on four particular ‘regions’: the North East; Yorkshire and the Humber; the West Midlands and the South West. Some of the project team’s initial and emerging research outputs are appended to this submission.
2009 The culture and economics of urban public space design public and profes...Lee Pugalis
Urban public space is once again a ‘hot’ topic and figures strongly in place quality discourse. City spaces are being recycled, reinterpreted and reinvented in a drive for a competitive quality of place. This paper illustrates the changing face of contemporary UK public space through a qualitative analysis of the perceptions held by public and professional-bureaucratic actors. Drawing on empirical case study research of five recent enhancement schemes at prominent nodes throughout the North East of England, the research explores the culture and economics of urban public space design. Some tentative observations are expressed in terms of the links between cultural activity and economic vitality, and some reflections on policy and practice are put forward.
Key words: urban public space, cultural vitality, economic activity, place quality
Pugalis, L. (2009) 'The culture and economics of urban public space design: public and professional perceptions', Urban Design International, 14 (4), pp. 215-230.
The dreaded phrase; the ‘credit crunch’ has infiltrated vernacular speak. For one who is charged with the (unenviable) remit of managing a rapidly contracting local economy in the North East of England, this only became apparent when a young relative of mine, not long out of nappies, told me that she was not allowed a new toy, and was thus saving her “pennies, because of the credit crunch”. The crunch has transformed into an economic recession that is real: affecting you, me and even my younger cousin Hannah. What began as a banking crisis during the summer of 2007 following the collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage market has subsequently led to an international tightening of fiscal transfers and a lack of confidence in global stock markets. In autumn 2008, the strength of the financial system was tested further with a severe collapse of confidence. Only massive liquidity support by central banks and rescue packages engaged by national and supranational governments have (so far) staved off a systemic financial meltdown. Consequently, what started as a crisis in the financial sector continues to affect the ‘real’ everyday economy. Initial projections that financial capitals, such as London, would feel the brunt and peripheral towns and cities, such as Durham, with less employees in the banking sector would be sheltered are now proving way off mark.
As practitioners, policy-makers and politicians continue to operate in such fragile economic conditions, questions are being asked in relation to responding to the crunch and planning for the upturn. Indeed, a Government colleague contacted me at work the other day in a rush to gather some intelligence on ‘what local authorities are doing to respond to the recession’. Apparently, a Minister had been getting ‘quite vocal that he isn’t hearing about what local authorities are doing and so we’re compiling evidence of what we are doing to help people at the current time’. So in addition to supplying information about what I was doing on behalf of Durham County Council and the County Durham Economic Partnership, I decided to initiate a fact finding mission of what others are doing within the North East and further afield.
2009 cultural animation and economic vitality identifying the links and reg...Lee Pugalis
Culture, space and economy are intermeshed in complex ways. This paper reports on findings from a larger empirical research project commissioned to investigate the symbiotic relationship between culturally animated urban street scenes and economic vitality. Grounded in empirical qualitative research focussing on recent place quality enhancement schemes in the North East of England, the central aim of this paper is to make the case that everyday cultural activity and economically vibrant places can go hand-in-hand. The research did not seek to quantify economic benefits of investments in the cultural animation of urban space, but interpretive analysis suggests that place quality regeneration strategies can enhance the economic performance and vitality of places. Based on the argument that cultural production of space and economic development are not, and therefore should not be viewed as, competing objectives, the paper puts forward a range of good practice pointers for policymakers and practitioners embarking on place quality enhancement schemes.
Key words: street scene, cultural animation, economic vitality, place quality, public space and urban regeneration
2009 a cost in planning for prosperous economies - pugalis and martinLee Pugalis
The new draft PPS4 exudes the desperation born of a harsh economic climate and appears to invite short-term fixes rather than long-term sustainable growth, say Lee Pugalis and Glenn Martin
In her foreword Margaret Beckett, then Minister for Housing and Planning, argued that ‘for the first time, this comprehensive new draft statement brings together in one place all of the Government’s key planning policies relating to the economy and streamlines and simplifies policy to focus on what is important to allow the economy to grow in a sustainable manner’. But if we scratch under the surface, does the revised draft lives up to its own hype, or is there a cost to Planning for Prosperous Economies?
2008 regeneration through place quality the case of seven stories - pugalisLee Pugalis
Through the case of a flagship place quality development; Seven Stories in Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley, the only physical centre for children’s literature in the UK and one of only a handful of such cultural spaces worldwide, this paper reports on its wider regenerative capacity. The Seven Stories redevelopment is a juxtaposition of careful refurbishment and novel contemporary design that has generated a ‘glocal designscape’ with the intention of creating a ‘tourist space’ to anchor the economic regeneration of East Newcastle. The case is made that isolated place quality enhancements are insufficient to regenerate wider areas and may result in diminishing returns as the initial ‘wow’ factor dissipates, but nevertheless they can constitute vital pieces of a more holistic regeneration jigsaw.
Pugalis, L. (2008) 'Regeneration through place quality: the case of Seven Stories - The Centre for Children's Books', Urban Research & Practice, 1 (3), pp. 324-328.
2009 a conceptual and analytical framework for interpreting the spatiality ...Lee Pugalis
This paper provides a framework for understanding the phenomenon of the discursive-material production of space, and also, for considering how unknowns may be organised. Language is instrumental to the production of place but has been overshadowed by investigations of material transformations. This is partly being redressed by the ‘linguistic turn’ in urban policy analysis over recent decades which recognise the performative aspects of language. However, the methodological ‘gap’ between discursivities and materialities remains as too often analysis of urban policy discourse has taken an aspatial analytic approach. Representations of space cannot be divorced from spatial practices and vice versa. Based on my premise that many visions, plans and strategies never materialise, and even some that do materialise have little bearing on what is produced, a mixed-method approach is required that considers the recursive interactions between spatial practices and representations of space. Grounded in the theories of Henri Lefebvre and Michel Foucault, which conceptualis space as a social process and broaden discourse to embrace spatial practice respectively, I devise a conceptual and operational analytics which I refer to as interpretive-spatial analysis with the goal of helping to bridge the problematic ontological, epistemological and methodological divide between discursivities and materialities.
2011 network interference - pugalis and gibbonsLee Pugalis
September 2011 saw the inaugural meeting of the government-backed national network for local enterprise partnerships. Lee Pugalis and Lorna Gibbons ask: how does a ‘top-down’ network support ‘bottom-up’ LEPs?
2010 its all about place shaping - pugalisLee Pugalis
Place shaping has now entered the everyday vocabulary of built environment professions, academics and the public sector at large. This struck me when leafing through the job vacancies in a well known British regeneration industry publication as I happened to notice an advert for what appeared to be an innovative and exciting new spatial development role: Head of Place Shaping. I was curious about this role, particularly as I had just advertised for an economic development officer with a background in or enthusiasm for ‘place shaping’, so I started to investigate a little further.
2010 The incremental renaissance of the historic city of durhamLee Pugalis
The UK historic city of Durham is considered by policymakers to be the ‘jewel in the crown’ in terms of economic potential for a county that has struggled to find a niche role following the collapse of coalmining. Perceived through the eyes of a local practitioner, this paper takes a look at how a networked ensemble of actors are responding to the economic recession and planning for the upturn. The paper examines the role of place quality improvements administered through the delivery of a city masterplan to stitch together the historic city fabric with a contemporary urban aesthetic. Through the case of the (incremental) renaissance of Durham city, it is suggested that a sensitive multilayered development approach underpinned by deliberative democracy is required that responds to the needs of everyday users and local inhabitants.
2012 evolutionary waves of place-shaping pre during and post recession - pu...Lee Pugalis
This paper is concerned with the evolution of place-shaping over the past decade or so and its potential future direction, specifically relating to a UK context but with varying aspects of resonance internationally. The methodological approach and empirical originality is derived from practitioner encounters synthesised with theory. Three ‘waves’ of place-shaping are discernable: renaissance, recession mitigation and recovery. Conceptualising and examining the changing face of place-shaping practice, some broad place quality trends are identified. Asserting that renaissance interventions were heavily skewed towards enhancing the material aspects of city spaces it is suggested that recessions provide a useful interject to reflect on past practice, rethink future policies and sharpen skills. It is within such a climate that innovatory practice can flourish as (public, private and community) actors are challenged to seek alternative ways of working. Questioning the wisdom of cuts in quality, the paper calls for new ways of capturing place quality.
Key words: place-shaping, regeneration, urban renaissance, place quality, economic recovery.
2012 the cultural life of public spaces - pugalisLee Pugalis
Within a UK context of radical policy reform and broader global economic shifts, the homogenisation of public space and the decimation of cultural life are leading-edge issues of contemporary concern. Drawing on empirics from a broader research project, this paper reports on the (ongoing) production of public spaces and extracts some pointers for practice pertaining to planning for their cultural life. Underutilisation, temporal dimensions and perceptions of urban quality are analysed, before tentatively considering future directions. Multi-stakeholder coproduction is put forward as a potentially fruitful mode of working.
This article reviews the current condition of regeneration policy in England – set against to the views of the Select Committee, those submitting evidence to it, the Government’s response to its findings, and comparison with the Scottish Government’s new regeneration strategy, set out in Achieving a Sustainable Future3 – and considers whether it is fit for purposej
2011 a renewed right to urban life - pugalis and giddingsLee Pugalis
Abstract
This paper is concerned with how space is socially produced and the vigorous struggles that this process entails. Critically engaging with some different readings of Henri Lefebvre’s spatial notion of the “right to the city” we contemplate its radical potency to reconstitute a renewed right to urban life. We argue that the right to the city – trialectically interpreted as a theoretical concept, call for action and cry – has substantial contemporary relevance and import, extending to spatial practitioners such as architects. This conclusion is reached by exploring the neoliberal imperative to conquer space, grappling with the issue of social justice as a means to decipher who (re)produces the city and in what particular ways. Highly visible strategies are contrasted with some less visible counter-practices, by developing a conceptual framework that emphasises ACCESSING, BEING and PARTICIPATING in the city. We contend that “little victories”, offer locationally-specific insights into alternative methods of production, and pose some unsettling questions for architects.
Pugalis, L. & Giddings, B. (2011) 'A Renewed Right to Urban Life: A Twenty-First Century Engagement with Lefebvre’s Initial "Cry"', Architectural Theory Review, 16 (3), pp. 278-295.
Welcome to the new Mizzima Weekly !
Mizzima Media Group is pleased to announce the relaunch of Mizzima Weekly. Mizzima is dedicated to helping our readers and viewers keep up to date on the latest developments in Myanmar and related to Myanmar by offering analysis and insight into the subjects that matter. Our websites and our social media channels provide readers and viewers with up-to-the-minute and up-to-date news, which we don’t necessarily need to replicate in our Mizzima Weekly magazine. But where we see a gap is in providing more analysis, insight and in-depth coverage of Myanmar, that is of particular interest to a range of readers.
हम आग्रह करते हैं कि जो भी सत्ता में आए, वह संविधान का पालन करे, उसकी रक्षा करे और उसे बनाए रखे।" प्रस्ताव में कुल तीन प्रमुख हस्तक्षेप और उनके तंत्र भी प्रस्तुत किए गए। पहला हस्तक्षेप स्वतंत्र मीडिया को प्रोत्साहित करके, वास्तविकता पर आधारित काउंटर नैरेटिव का निर्माण करके और सत्तारूढ़ सरकार द्वारा नियोजित मनोवैज्ञानिक हेरफेर की रणनीति का मुकाबला करके लोगों द्वारा निर्धारित कथा को बनाए रखना और उस पर कार्यकरना था।
In a May 9, 2024 paper, Juri Opitz from the University of Zurich, along with Shira Wein and Nathan Schneider form Georgetown University, discussed the importance of linguistic expertise in natural language processing (NLP) in an era dominated by large language models (LLMs).
The authors explained that while machine translation (MT) previously relied heavily on linguists, the landscape has shifted. “Linguistics is no longer front and center in the way we build NLP systems,” they said. With the emergence of LLMs, which can generate fluent text without the need for specialized modules to handle grammar or semantic coherence, the need for linguistic expertise in NLP is being questioned.
Future Of Fintech In India | Evolution Of Fintech In IndiaTheUnitedIndian
Navigating the Future of Fintech in India: Insights into how AI, blockchain, and digital payments are driving unprecedented growth in India's fintech industry, redefining financial services and accessibility.
01062024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
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‘वोटर्स विल मस्ट प्रीवेल’ (मतदाताओं को जीतना होगा) अभियान द्वारा जारी हेल्पलाइन नंबर, 4 जून को सुबह 7 बजे से दोपहर 12 बजे तक मतगणना प्रक्रिया में कहीं भी किसी भी तरह के उल्लंघन की रिपोर्ट करने के लिए खुला रहेगा।
ys jagan mohan reddy political career, Biography.pdfVoterMood
Yeduguri Sandinti Jagan Mohan Reddy, often referred to as Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, is an Indian politician who currently serves as the Chief Minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh. He was born on December 21, 1972, in Pulivendula, Andhra Pradesh, to Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy (popularly known as YSR), a former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, and Y.S. Vijayamma.
27052024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
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03062024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
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role of women and girls in various terror groupssadiakorobi2
Women have three distinct types of involvement: direct involvement in terrorist acts; enabling of others to commit such acts; and facilitating the disengagement of others from violent or extremist groups.
31052024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdfFIRST INDIA
Find Latest India News and Breaking News these days from India on Politics, Business, Entertainment, Technology, Sports, Lifestyle and Coronavirus News in India and the world over that you can't miss. For real time update Visit our social media handle. Read First India NewsPaper in your morning replace. Visit First India.
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1. Look before you LEP
Paper should be cited as:
Pugalis, L. (2011) 'Look before you LEP', Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal, 5
(1), 7-22.
Abstract
State-led restructuring of sub-national economic governance and regeneration has been
rapidly evolving over the past year or so across England. With several waves of cross-
boundary Local Enterprise Partnerships approved by the UK Government, it is opportune to
take stock of some of the more notable shifts. Building on a preliminary analytical mapping
of the rocky road from regionalism to sub-regional localism, the paper pays particular
attention to the politicised process underpinning the alliances, and crafting, development and
subsequent submission of LEP proposals, as well as the eventual assessment and state
sanctioning of LEP bids. Examining the process from a variety of perspectives, the paper
highlights unequal power relations and extracts a number of powerful policy considerations.
The paper propounds the argument that the rhetoric of permissive policy masks centralist
controlling tendencies and unwritten rules.
Keywords: Public-private partnerships, sub-national governance, regeneration, economic
policy, regional development, business engagement, leadership and local enterprise
partnerships
INTRODUCTION
Following the Conservative Party’s announcements to replace England’s Regional
Development Agencies (RDAs) outside of London with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs)
in the run up to the May, 2010 General Election, which broadly correlated with Liberal
Democrat views, it was clear that, failing a Labour election victory, RDAs’ dominant
economic regeneration role would be living on borrowed time.1 Once David Cameron and
Page 1 of 20
2. Nick Clegg had shaken hands on a deal to form a UK Coalition Government, the axe quickly
fell on RDAs as their powers, funding and responsibilities were curtailed, well in advance of
legislation set to formally abolish them by April, 2012. Alongside this act of demolition was
the fledgling idea of sub-national economic reconstruction centred on business-led LEPs.
Recognising ‘the constitutional paradox of a permanent civil service that has no permanent
memory’ (p. 214),2 it is considered crucial to analyse the ideas, thoughts and motivations
directing policy change in order to capture lessons that would otherwise go unnoticed or
remain concealed. Building on a preliminary analytical mapping of the rocky road from
regionalism to sub-regional localism that theorised the transitional landscape,3 the present
paper pays particular attention to the politicised process underpinning the alliances, and
leading to the crafting, development and subsequent submission of LEP proposals, as well as
the eventual state assessment of LEP bids. Consequently there is merit in briefly recapping
and updating the core aspects of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat’s (Con-Lib’s) state-led
restructuring of sub-national economic governance and regeneration since Pugalis posed the
exploratory question: ‘where do we go from here?’.3
The spatial scales favoured for the attempted management and governance of
economic regeneration policy have ebbed and flowed since the identification of the so-called
‘regional problem’ in the 1930s.4 Theoretical developments, policy-driven research and
socio-economic shifts have all played a role, yet it is arguably political ideology that has
instigated some of the more radical scalar-contingent institutional shifts. Whilst ‘regions’
performed an important administrative role prior to the 1990s (e.g. as statistical units), the
Major-led Conservative Government standardised them by way of introducing Government
Offices for the English Regions (GOs) in 1994. Partly in response to the European Union’s
preference for the regional administration of funding, such as the European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF), GOs provided Whitehall departments with regional tentacles.
The promotion of regions as preferable units for the administration and integration of sub-
national policy continued under New Labour, including the launch of RDAs in 1999. 5
Possessing statutory powers for furthering the economic development of regions, their
responsibilities grew incrementally and they wielded significant influence over regeneration
schemes involving the public sector. Despite largely favourable ‘independent’ evaluations,
they came under political scrutiny from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats prior to the
General Election. Whilst space does not permit a detailed analysis here, against a background
of economic recession RDAs were attacked and criticised on democratic grounds owing to
Page 2 of 20
3. their locally unaccountable private sector-led boards and bureaucratic grounds perceived to
produce an ‘additional layer’ at an inappropriate spatial scale, amongst other things.
Supposedly aligned with their localism philosophy, the Coalition Government invited
English localities to put forward proposals – backed by democratic and business leaders – for
the creation of LEPs. This was initially restricted to those areas of England outside of
London, but the Government subsequently extended its invitation to London after discussions
with its Mayor. By way of these invitations, the gauntlet had been laid down by the Coalition
for a respatialisation of neoliberal economic regeneration entities. Providing localities – that
were originally expected to be composed of two or more upper-tier authorities – with less
than 70 days to put together propositions on the back of a few paragraphs of guidance in the
form of broad ‘parameters’ contained in a letter of 29th June, 2010 by the Business Secretary
and Communities Secretary,6 Government refrained from publishing any policy-guidance
until after the state-set 6th September, 2010 deadline. It was not until 28th October, 2010
when the Coalition issued their eagerly anticipated Local Growth ‘White Paper’7 that the
Government’s policy on LEPs was revealed.5
The White Paper is intended to provide the overarching framework for how the Con-
Libs seek to rebalance the country’s spatial economy as part of achieving an economic
recovery. It sets out three priorities:
1. Shifting power to local communities and businesses – by establishing local
partnerships of business and civic leaders (i.e. LEPs)
2. Increasing confidence to invest – by creating the right conditions for growth and a
new incentives regime
3. Focused investment – by tackling barriers to growth that the market will not address
itself and supporting investment that will have a long term impact on growth
As part of this broad brush agenda, a range of measures, designed to provide incentives for
local authorities (LAs) to promote business growth, is outlined in principle.5 The White Paper
also provided details of the first tranche of approved LEPs (see Figure 1), the process for
dismantling the RDAs and set out high-level criteria for the Regional Growth Fund. The
latter is set to be the prime (and only major) economic regeneration funding pot over the next
three years. The £1.4 billion England-wide fund, administered (but not financially supported)
by Vince Cable’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), will, among its
tasks, be instrumental in providing ‘match-funding’ for accessing the ERDF, administered by
Page 3 of 20
4. Eric Pickles’ Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG).8 The latter is an
example of the recentralisation of policy-funding functions; previously ERDF had been
managed by the RDAs and GOs before them.
Figure 1: A map of the first wave of state sanctioned LEPs
Page 4 of 20
5. Taking a critical look at the framing, process and politics underpinning the Coalition’s
‘open call’ for LEPs and the concomitant territorial alliances informing LEP submissions, the
paper extracts a number of powerful lessons that can be learnt from this policy story still
being written. Examining the process from several different perspectives, including business,
academic, political and practitioner views, the paper highlights unequal power relations.
Following the methodological approach via policy ‘chatter’ advocated by Pugalis,3 which
helps capture the political nuances and practitioner deliberations in a fast-paced policy and at
times chaotic environment, the paper propounds the argument that the rhetoric of permissive
policy masks centralist controlling tendencies and unwritten rules. The state-led orchestrated
politicised process is recounted in the next section, which is followed by an overarching
analysis of the LEP proposals submitted to Government. The assessment process is then
examined, before concluding with some lessons to date. As with all state-led restructuring
exercises, the motivations, implementation and outcomes are contextually embedded and thus
spatially distinct. Yet, in the realm of globally connected local places and practices, some
insights specific to England are likely to resemble processes evolving across other places,
countries and continents. In this respect, findings will be of interest and appeal to a wider
international audience of scholars and policy analysts. However, direct and unsympathetic
‘fast’ policy transfer of lessons learnt is not advisable.
THE POLITICISED PROCESS
The dismantling of regions, including the abolition of RDAs, was a political act. Con-Lib
critiques of RDAs – revolving around unsuitable administrative geographies, unaccountable
creatures of central government and inefficient bureaucratic machinery – can be viewed as a
smokescreen for eradicating vestiges of the Blair-Brown Labour era (1997-2010).9 Perhaps
owing to their primary desire of drawing to a swift end Labour’s regional policy-
infrastructure, the Coalition’s localist policy rebuilding plan was less developed.10 As
Damian Waters, the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI’s) regional director in the North
West, put it: ‘There is a danger that [the Government] are throwing out the baby with the bath
water’. More extreme views attest that there is a danger of throwing the bath out as well!
Lesser and greater remarks of concern were reiterated from different perspectival lenses (e.g.
LA officers, entrepreneurs and regeneration practitioners), forming a strong impression that
whilst the ‘old’ regionalist policy approach was imperfect, wholesale demolition and
reconstitution was unnecessary, and potentially counterproductive.3, 9
Page 5 of 20
6. Prior to the General Election the most comprehensive account of LEPs was contained
in a letter by Caroline Spelman and Ken Clarke.11 Claiming that the RDAs were a legacy of a
failed regional government experiment, in reference to the North East of England’s ‘no’ vote
for an Elected Regional Assembly, the Spelman-Clarke letter suggested reforms to the
existing regional system, rather than ‘scrap it’ entirely. The assertion was that such reform
would strengthen local economic development and urban regeneration priorities. In terms of
leadership, Spelman and Clarke were insistent that ‘a leading local business person will chair
each new partnership’ (p. 2). Proceeding the General Election result, the Cable-Pickles letter
was a little more flexible, indicating that they were ‘willing to consider variants’ such as an
elected mayor (p. 2).6 The reference to elected mayors was a nod in the direction of their
intent to legislate for these in the 12 ‘largest’ cities (as set out in the Localism Bill).12 Yet, the
two page letter by Cable and Pickles has been widely rebuked across different sectors and
interests. Enraged by contradictory views pertaining from different ministers, Richard
Lambert, director-general of the CBI, described the manner in which the Government went
about creating LEPs as a ‘shambles’.
The quiet conflict between Eric Pickles (Conservative) and Vince Cable (Liberal
Democrat), icons of the notable policy differences that have traditionally existed between
their respective departments, CLG and BIS, goes much of the way in explaining why the
policy on LEPs lacks strategic cohesion, has developed unevenly and been riddled with
inconsistencies. It is feasible that the internal wrangling between BIS and CLG officials,
reminiscent of ‘negotiations’ that stretched out the implementation of the Treasury’s13
‘Review of sub-national economic development and regeneration’ in 2007 under a Labour
Government, may have expended valuable time and space for more creative, strategic
thinking. Though, it should be noted that this trait is not limited to national policy
deliberation. It is a pervasive peculiarity that transcends political affiliations and spatial
scales. Considering the vagueness of the policy of compromise contained in the ‘Local
Growth White Paper’,5 the role and scope of LEPs is yet to be adequately clarified, despite 12
months passing since the circulation of the Cable-Pickles letter. Consequently, LEPs in
practice are subject to be drastically transformed over time and across space.
In a letter addressed to Vince Cable, dated 14th September, 2010, which was leaked
to the press, Mark Prisk, Business and Enterprise Minister, alerted the Business Secretary to
the ‘strong concerns of the business community’ regarding LEPs. Prisk cautioned that LEPs
could be a ‘failure in large parts of England’ should business become ‘detached’ from the
initiative. Prisk’s letter of concern was in direct response to the public criticisms from
Page 6 of 20
7. powerful business lobby groups, such as the CBI. Sir Digby Jones, the former boss of the
CBI, claimed that LEPs are ‘politically driven and managed’, confused in their objectives, too
small to operate strategically and already had a ‘local authority mentality’. Jones’
condemnation epitomised the mood of the business community who began to refer to LEPs as
‘toothless tigers’ destined to be ‘talking shops’ and ‘empty vessels’.
The process, to date, has been a maelstrom of conflicting ministerial pronouncements
lacking the substance of a considered policy-framework, let alone any evidence supporting
the advocacy for yet another round of reterritorialised institutional manoeuvring, that shows
no signs of abating. Even Cable acknowledged that the process had been ‘a little Maoist and
chaotic’. In parallel to the ministerial induced confusion, LAs and businesses were presented
with the unenviable task, and potentially poisoned chalice, of garnering ambitious LEP
proposals in a relatively short period of time (i.e. 10 weeks).
SUBMISSIONS
In July 2010 the consultancy CommunitySense launched a research project to investigate how
LAs intended to progress the development of LEPs.14 More than 50 senior regeneration
professionals participated, with survey findings, unsurprisingly, indicating that LAs want
LEPs to adopt a strong enterprise focus including supporting employment, skills and business
development. Responses revealed a pragmatic acceptance that most LEPs would be formed
from existing partnership arrangements and there was a widely held expectation that
brokering business involvement would be particularly challenging. The Government received
a total of 62 LEP proposals, including a few propositions for strategic (regional) forums
intended to operate alongside and in cooperation with LEPs, such as, the Yorkshire
Enterprise Partnership. Content analysis of the majority of these submissions, alongside
interviews and media reports validates the public sector practitioners’ initial views captured
in CommunitySense’s LA survey.
Focus and priorities
Whilst there was no government blueprint for LEPs, at least no blueprint that Cable and
Pickles could agree and issue publicly prior to the September deadline, their letter provided a
broad steer and hinted at some of the Coalition Government’s emergent thinking.3 As cross-
boundary entities, the letter stated that LEPs should produce a ‘clear vision’ for their area
setting out ‘local economic priorities’. Providing the ‘strategic leadership’ for their functional
Page 7 of 20
8. economic space, the letter stated that they will play a key role in delivering the Coalition’s
commitment to ‘rebalance the economy towards the private sector’. The Cable-Pickles letter
intends LEPs to tackle issues like planning and housing, local transport and infrastructure,
employment and enterprise, and tourism in some areas, as analysed in more detail
elsewhere,3, 10, 15 thereby, supporting the Government’s aspiration to create the ‘right
environment for business and growth’. Although ministers claim that the model for LEPs is
that there is no model, by effectively – at first – ruling out the role of LEPs in some activities
including inward investment, sector leadership, responsibility for business support,
innovation, and access to finance, the broad parameters had been set. As a result, the salient
feature of LEP bids have several key characteristics in common (see Figure 2). However,
beyond the commonalities – reflective of the Government’s broad parameters and existing
economic regeneration priorities – proposals ranged significantly. It was clear that some, for
example, had been prepared late in the process; lacking broad partner input, analytical rigour
and thoughtful priorities. Some bids amounted to less than a handful of pages of text, whereas
others exceed 200 pages, including maps, diagrams and detailed economic analysis. Several
propositions mentioned an intent to adopt ‘innovative’ financial instruments, although
elaboration was absent in most cases.
Figure 2: Common characteristics of LEP bids
Key themes Common characteristics Bid examples
Role Many bids consider the principal role to be that of The East Sussex Prosperity through
strategic leadership Growth proposal did not outline
Terminology, such as ‘influencing’, ‘advocacy’, decision-making powers, instead
‘support’ and ‘enabling’, was frequently preferring a more strategic advisory
mentioned role
Scope and Most proposals tended to reflect the enterprise The Newcastle and Gateshead bid
priorities brief set out in the Cable-Pickles letter, although suggested the use of a spatial
addressing locally specific priorities featured development plan to guide and
prominently in many bids prioritise the work of the LEP
Some proposals used the Government’s language
of ‘rebalancing the economy’ to frame their
priorities
Form The proposed form of LEPs tended to be either an The East Anglia bid was silent on the
informal partnership arrangement, often supported form of its proposed LEP
by a LA acting as accountable body, or an entity
with a legal personality, such as a company limited
by guarantee
Functions Beyond those functions identified by Cable and Oxfordshire’s submission proposed
Pickles, such as housing, planning and transport, joint-working with the Homes and
other functions including access to finance, Communities Agency in allocating
supporting business start-ups and developing a low housing and regeneration funds
carbon economy were frequently identified in bids Gloucestershire, Swindon and
Functions identified by Government to be Wiltshire sought devolved
delivered nationally, particularly inward responsibility for inward investment
investment, were considered crucial to the through their bid
Page 8 of 20
9. workings of LEPs in many cases
Private sector Most propositions claimed to have private sector The Atlantic Gateway bid was a rare
support backing with some utilising signatories as example of being genuinely private
‘evidence’ sector-led
Governance The majority of bids mirrored the Cable-Pickles The Solent proposition set out to make
guidance by proposing a private sector chair and use of an Employment and Skills
equitable board representation across the public Board
and private sector
Many propositions were explicit about their
intention to secure further/higher education
representation at board level
Most bids were silent on the matter of voluntary,
community and third sector representation at board
level
A number of bids intend to employ Employment
and Skills Boards
Business Some bids had clearly thought of different Hampshire’s submission cited
representation mechanisms and processes to engender broader engagement through online
business engagement beyond those nominated to mechanisms and a business forum
comprise the board
Geography Almost all submissions were composed of at least Greater Manchester made a strong case
two upper-tier authorities, with frequent claims of on the grounds of functional economic
territories matching ‘natural economic areas’ space
A single upper-tier bid was submitted
in Cumbria
Boundary There were competing bids covering similar and/or Competing bids were received by
disputes overlapping geographies Government across Lancashire,
Numerous LAs were included in two or more LEP Pennine Lancashire and Flyde Coast
submissions
Cross-boundary Many propositions recognised the need for Adopting consistent language, each of
working working across LEP boundaries, primarily with the LEP submissions from across the
immediate neighbours but also with LEPs across North East proposed to work with a
other parts of the country with similar sectoral regional forum – the North East
strengths Economic Partnership
Some LEP bids proposed confederated working
arrangements and others set out to work within a
regional framework
Existing It was common for LEP submissions to recognise Many of the City Regions and Multi-
partnerships the need to build on existing partnerships, though Area Agreements, such as Leeds City
not necessarily mirror existing geographies, Region, put forward LEP bids
although some LEP bids are remarkably similar to
sub-regional governance entities established under
the previous Labour Government
Governmental Several propositions were explicit about the need The Birmingham and Solihull
relations to work closely with specific government proposition specifically mentioned its
departments and agencies intent to work closely with UK Trade
and Industry
Staffing Due to budget constraints and uncertainty of The Tees Valley submission identified
arrangements funding most submissions outlined an expectation a core team of staff that would provide
that secretariat support would be kept to a policy and delivery support, and seek
minimum to access additional funding
Funding and Consistent calls for accessing the Regional Growth Liverpool City Region’s submission
other sources of Fund called for financial benefits where their
finance Several bids suggested that they would consider role in achieving welfare benefit
pooling public sector resources and there was savings could be demonstrated
significant interest in place-based budgeting
Assets Consistent calls were made through LEP bids for The Marches proposition sets out to
taking on the ownership of RDA physical assets, deliver ambition on the back of RDA
such as land and property assets
Page 9 of 20
10. The majority of submissions identified workforce skills and inward investment as key
local priorities and therefore expected the LEP to play a decisive role.16 Yet, the Coalition
intends to recentralise these functions. Overall, an analysis of the LEP proposals shows a
clear trend towards LEPs performing a strategic enabling and influencing role – ‘steering and
cheering’. Locally distinct, specific details of the role to be performed by LEPs tended to be
sketchy in the propositions, which is understandable when considering the adventurous
timescales, lack of clarity from Government and no sign of state financial backing. It is clear
that some localities decided to design-in flexibility, with interview responses suggesting that
many LEPs intend to adapt once the landscape of LEPs becomes clearer. More than one
respondent made reference to waiting to see ‘which way the wind is blowing’ before
specifying functions and activities. Another practitioner involved in the crafting of a LEP
submission maintained that it was for ‘the board itself to determine priorities and activities ...
we [officers and representatives] can provide them with something to work with, but [the
board] need to have an input and make the final decision’. This type of stance indicates that
some proposals, perhaps even a significant majority, should be viewed as provisional works-
in-progress. Hence, it is likely to transpire that the actual focus and prioritisation of actions
over coming months and years may bear little resemblance to original bids. Indeed, the
announcement to revive Enterprise Zones (EZs), a favoured Conservative policy of the 1980s
and 1990s, with the 2011 Budget Report identifying the first 11 of 21 EZs across England,17
but only available to those places with a LEP, has prompted some commentators to claim that
‘New life has [been] breathed into LEPs’.18
Developing existing partnerships – LEPs are nothing new
In part owing to the compressed timescale for developing LEP submissions, but also
reflective of the array of neoliberal spatial governance arrangements developed over the
preceding decade – including but not limited to Multi-Area Agreements, City Regions and
Sub-Regional Partnerships – there was a strong propensity for LEP submissions to recast
existing arrangements. Indeed, the CommunitySense survey reported that ‘Over 87% of
Local Authorities sampled were preparing to utilise and merge existing partnership structures
to support LEP development’ (p. 7).14 Some of the most notable examples of LEP
submissions taking forward prior partnership configurations are the two pilot statutory City
Regions, announced in the 2009 Budget, covering Greater Manchester and the urban
conurbation centred on Leeds. Adopting such tactics prevents ‘reinventing the wheel’, which
is to be commended. These recast or simply rebadged partnerships will have accumulated a
Page 10 of 20
11. unique history of cooperation that any new partnership clearly has to negotiate. In this sense
established cross-boundary entities, such as Tees Valley Unlimited, may be at a distinct
advantage, as notwithstanding their own politico-institutional problems, they are
commencing life as a LEP with a track-record of economic governance at the larger than
local level. However, there is an apparent risk that some (predominantly public sector) actors
see LEPs as ‘business as usual’. In contrast, Dickinson asserts that the private sector ‘wants a
radical change’ in modes of working.16 Partly in response, terms such as, ‘fleet of foot’ have
entered the practitioners’ vocabulary to describe a new way of working that is more agile and
responsive than recent practice. Yet, so far, there has been little sign of a substantive cultural
shift to indicate that this will be the case other than in the most exceptional of circumstances.
It would be invidious if this latest round of state-led restructuring does not rouse more
innovative partnership arrangements and more creative ways of solving longstanding
economic issues.
Business involvement
Since the Coalition came to power, and especially in the period up to the September, 2010
LEP submission deadline, there has been a spate of policy announcements. Consequently, an
overwhelming weight of material was being fired in all directions and it was difficult for the
private sector to engage within such a small window of opportunity. A survey of almost 300
businesses by Shropshire Chamber of Commerce conducted prior to government deadline
revealed that approximately two-thirds of respondents were aware of the abolition of RDAs,
but there was less clarity on the role and governance of LEPs.19 For example, 37 percent of
respondents had no knowledge that LEPs are intended to be business-led with strong board
representation. Notwithstanding some promising exceptions and creative ways of engaging
businesses, such as through online networks, it is little wonder that the role of business in the
crafting, formulation and endorsement of submissions has been variously described as ‘thin’20
and ‘patchy’.21 As a result – implicitly and explicitly – the process can be characterised as
being LA-led, despite the Cable-Pickles letter calling for business leadership. The following
quote from a researcher at the Centre for Cities think-tank demonstrates the assumption that
LAs are the driving force behind the development of LEP submissions:
‘Partnerships will need to consider carefully who to involve from the business community,
and how to work with them to ensure a laser focus on growing local economies. The
Page 11 of 20
12. Partnership for Urban South Hampshire, for example, only engages with business on key
strategic issues, to make best use of their time’.21
There is an implicit inference that ‘partnerships’ are run by public sector stakeholders who
have more time to devote, with businesses only consulted ‘on key strategic issues’. If such a
view informs the workings of LEPs then the business as usual model will surely prevail. The
‘involvement’ of business interests in sub-national economic governance is an area that is
worthy of additional theoretical and empirical enquiry. It is far too simplistic to view private
sector or even more holistic multi-sector leadership as a magic bullet for the many complex
and entrenched issues that LEPs will inevitably face in the future.
In a context of economic austerity, some commentators are concerned that LEPs will struggle
to compensate for the ‘regional lacuna’ that has emerged following the demise of the RDAs.9
Drawing on the case of the North-West RDA, Kevin Meagher argued that the BBC would
never have moved to Salford Quays without a strategic regional body in place ‘to bang heads
together and get a rational approach agreed’ between Manchester and Salford councils.22
Calling for LEPs to have genuine powers that can help generate business interest, Meagher
opined that ‘the last thing anyone needs are a fleet of empty vessels manned by squabbling
local authorities as the big picture on regional economic development gets missed’. Yet,
prospective LEPs submitted their proposals lacking clarity on what they were permitted to do,
how they will do it, and how and by whom they will be judged.
RED, AMBER, GREEN: PERMISSIVE POLICY OR UNWRITTEN RULES?
As a consequence of the Government’s embryonic policy for LEPs, there was broad concern
from business groups and think-tanks that there could be ‘far too many little ones - which
would undermine their effectiveness’.23 Yet, a high number of bids was always likely to be a
by-product of localism, particularly if one agreed with the Coalition’s view that the eight
RDAs (excluding London) were too remote from local economic ‘realities’. A permissive
approach, what CLG’s deputy director of economic partnerships defines as ‘no prescription,
no guidance, no duties, with accountability [instead resting with] local people, and an end to
mindless reporting/strategies and plans produced to satisfy Government’s appetitive for more
and more data and information’,24 would therefore place an onus on the multiple stakeholders
within localities negotiating translocal economic forces. Here, local actors decide what the
Page 12 of 20
13. issues are, how to tackle them, who to work with and how to work – the What, Who and How
formula. Such a ‘bottom-up’ approach may not necessarily correlate with the views of
Whitehall, but it would demonstrate a first step of localism in action.
Emanating from the loose guidance provided by Government was the added
confusion derived from stakeholder interpretations. Creating ‘space’ for LEPs to respond to
local needs and priorities, which is welcome, Johnson and Schmuecker warned that this ‘also
creates uncertainty as to what will meet the criteria and what will not’ (p. 1).25 Whilst there
were generalities across the submissions, as identified above, there were also spatially
specific priorities and tailored ‘solutions’. The process, therefore, increased the likelihood of
competing bids and overlapping geographies. The Government subsequently received more
than 60 individual LEP proposals, which was decidedly more than BIS had hoped for, but
probably more closely attuned with the localism policy of CLG and its ministerial head Eric
Pickles. Pugalis3 demonstrates this patchwork quilt of prospective LEP geographies visually
and SQW20 quantified that at least 70 district authorities were included in two or more
submissions. Figure 3 identifies many of the geographically overlapping bids.
Figure 3: Competing LEP bids
Region Areas with competing bids
North East None
Yorkshire and York and North Yorkshire and Leeds City Region
Humber York and North Yorkshire and Hull, East Riding and Scarborough
Hull, East Riding and Scarborough and Humber
Leeds City Region and Sheffield City Region
North West Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Warrington and the
Atlantic Gateway
Lancashire, Pennine Lancashire and Flyde Coast
East Midlands South East Midlands and Northamptonshire
West Midlands Birmingham and Solihull with East Staffordshire, Lichfield and Tamworth and
Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire
East of England East Anglia and Norfolk
East Anglia and Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough
East Anglia and Kent-Essex
South East Kent-Essex and Kent and Medway
The M3 corridor and Surrey
The Solent and Hampshire and the M3 Corridor
Surrey and the Coast to Capital and the Gatwick Diamond
Gatwick Diamond and Coast to Capital
South West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly and Devon and Somerset/Heart of the South West
Devon and Somerset/Heart of the South West and South Somerset and East Devon
Page 13 of 20
14. With Government lacking substantive criteria with which to base their decisions, a
straightforward, objective and transparent assessment process of LEP submissions appeared
improbable. The Coalition had inadvertently set themselves an impossible challenge: how to
demonstrate commitment to their permissive approach and localist philosophy at the same
time as encouraging localities to overcome territorial disputes and rise above parochialism.
How the Coalition responded proved to be a significant early test in respect of their ‘appetite
for the reality as well as the rhetoric of devolution’.21 At this crucial stage, ministers were
forced to reveal their hand which confirmed that the ‘Whitehall knows best’ view had not
vanished, but had been masquerading through the concept of localism. The Government
opted to endorse an initial wave of 24 LEPs using ex-post rationalisation as a way out of the
trap they had inadvertently created (see Figure 1). Finding themselves in an unexpected
situation that tested their localist credentials, the Coalition, so as not to appear irrational,
modified their approach (philosophy) so as to ‘justify’ their course of action. Ex-post
rationalisation permits actors, in this case government ministers, to reformulate past actions
and processes to appear in a more positive light. The specific course utilised by the Coalition
Government involved the adoption of four key criteria to assess the LEP proposals: i) support
from business ii) natural economic geography iii) LA support iv) and added value and
ambition.7 Without explaining the use of such criteria or indeed acknowledging the existence
of such criteria prior to and/or during the open invitation for LEP submissions, it is doubtful
the extent to which this criteria informed the ministerial decision-making process. Whilst the
Coalition have been staunch advocates of transparency, with Pickles contending that Freedom
of Information requests would be rendered redundant if the public sector made more
information readily available, they have been far from transparent in the murky LEP approval
process. Indeed, politicised motives masquerading as rational policy decisions may also be
directing the location of EZs. In April, 2011 David Cameron reportedly stated that the Stoke-
on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP area would be granted one of the remaining ten EZs, pre-
empting what has been officially scripted as a competitive bidding process.
Decision letters to proposers support the view that ministers arbitrarily adopted a
traffic light system of assessing bids. ‘Red’ – limited chance of approval and a major rethink
required. ‘Amber’ – additional work need, largely in terms of geography or partner buy-in.
‘Green’ – approval granted. Around 90 percent of the content of decision letters to proposers
consisted of generic text, which provided the impression that individual bids had not been
systematically considered. The intention to provide ‘detailed and individual feedback to
partnerships’24 may have been laudable but was never realistic considering that the London-
Page 14 of 20
15. based civil servants in BIS and CLG were only ever resourced to liaise with nine RDAs, and
were themselves facing staff reductions as a result of the spending cuts announced in the
October, 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review.26
Figure 4: A map of 33 LEPs – April, 2011
Page 15 of 20
16. The first tranche of LEPs left approximately 40 per cent of the population of England
LEP-less, with significant left-over spaces occupying large swathes of the North East, North
Yorkshire, Lancashire, Humberside, East Anglia and the West Country. Since the initial
wave, three more were approved in December, 2010 and by the end of April, 2011 six more
had been approved on an incremental basis, which brought the number of state sanctioned
bids to 33 (covering approximately 93 per cent of England’s population and 1.9 million
businesses) (see Figure 4).
LESSONS TO DATE
In a rapidly evolving policy environment, change is the only constant at the moment.
Although it is too early to judge the efficacy of LEPs, marked differences in the LEP
submissions and, just as importantly, their process of production, can be identified in order to
extract some key points of learning from the process to date. Whilst it would appear obvious
that LEPs should have clarity of purpose, including strategies, funding and powers,27 the
compressed timescale and lack of guidance mean that in many cases this remains a crucial
aspect to resolve. Without this basic understanding of their raison d’être and the tools at their
disposal, LEPs face an uphill struggle to influence the regeneration and growth of local
economies (especially over the short-term). Therefore, the first lesson to be drawn from
England’s state-led restructuring of sub-national economic governance and regeneration is
that clarity of goals and objectives, in this case to enable local growth, should be thoughtful
and achievable. Whilst locally tailored priorities and approaches are advocated, visions
lacking the substance to deliver will be futile. Lesson two is for the rules of the game to be
explicit and agreed upfront. It is for this reason that new policy concepts, such as LEPs, are
normally consulted upon prior to policy formulation and implementation. Linked to this,
lesson three is to learn from what has gone before: salvaging what has worked, revising what
could work better and learning from what has not worked so well. It is perhaps this lesson
which the Coalition Government should heed most in the future. Lesson four is to be realistic
about what can be achieved within compressed timescales. For example, seeking views and
proposals for new ways of working between public, private and voluntary sector interests
within a 10 week period was overambitious. The fifth lesson is that old rivalries, territorial
disputes, local politics and histories of stakeholder relations die hard. A perceived peril of
some of the submissions and state sanctioned LEPs is that the cavernous cracks created by
longstanding tensions may have only been papered over rather than fundamentally addressed.
Page 16 of 20
17. As the results of May, 2011 local government elections have transformed the political
dynamics of some areas, it will be interesting to monitor whether this unsettles or stabilises
emergent LEP relations. Those LEP-less areas, such as north and south of the Humber, may
use changes in local political leadership as an opportunity to put in place some cross-
boundary arrangements. The sixth lesson is to acknowledge that the form and focus of LEPs
will be spatially and historically contingent and, therefore, each LEP will require variable
degrees of national support and autonomy. The seventh lesson is to recognise the unequal
power relations of partnerships and to negotiate these in an open and transparent manner. The
Coalition exercise considerable power across the landscape of LEPs, yet arguably, these
powers have been concealed by representations of localism.
The ground rules for LEPs and sub-national economic regeneration has shifted rapidly
over the past 12 months. In part, this can be attributed to the frenetic politicised process that
framed the alliances, crafting, development and subsequent submission of LEP proposals, as
well as the eventual assessment and state sanctioning of LEP bids. Commencing with only a
nebulous notion of what form a LEP may take and what they could achieve, some
commentators perceived this to be evidence of ‘localism in action’ – a truly permissive
approach from Whitehall. Other analysts point to the tension between the localism of Pickles
and the regionalism-centralism of Cable, and indeed their respective officials, as the primary
reason underscoring a lack of guidance. As a result, the proposed LEP geographies were
unlikely to tessellate. Given the permissive rhetoric of the Con-Libs, their criteria for
assessing bids would prove challenging and contentious.
The paper has identified a lack of transparency, shifts in politico-policy direction and
ex-post rationalised criteria, leaving a dark cloud over the deliberations informing the crude
traffic light system of endorsing some (Green), leaving the door open for others (Amber) and
the bold rejection of the rest (Red). Despite expressions of localism wrapped-up in a
demagogical strategy, after 12 months of Con-Lib rule the shift from RDAs to LEPs appears
to mask insidious centralism. If this is so, then the Coalition’s sub-national policy is
remarkably similar to Labour’s. Further, LEPs could be considered more of a reaction against
Labour’s RDAs rather than a direct replacement. Though the Labour Government
propounded the virtues of subsidiarity,13 they were reluctant to grant localities genuine
economic powers, financial levers or incentives beyond a duty to assess the condition of their
economy. At a time when many areas have an improved understanding of economic
opportunities and regeneration priorities, in part supported by the production of Local
Economic Assessments, it is hoped that the tendency for Whitehall to centralise power and
Page 17 of 20
18. resources, which concomitantly undermines the representative role of local government, will
be reversed by way of LEPs. Such a shift would go some way in addressing the state-local
power imbalances and truly differentiate the Coalition’s espoused ‘radicalism’ from what
went before.
Speaking at the London Development Agency’s annual public meeting on 9th
November, 2010, London Mayor, Boris Johnson, believed it would be a ‘mistake’ to create a
network of LEPs within the capital
‘My motto is look before you LEP. What we need to do is be very careful that we don’t
reinvent the wheel. I think it would be a mistake for London to create a confusing and
complicated Venn diagram of sub-regions … I don’t think that’s the way to go’.
It has subsequently transpired that the Mayor’s advice has been heeded, with a single LEP
created for the capital (which in many respects is a direct replacement of the London
Development Agency but with much less financial muscle). Yet, even in London the LEP
picture is not totally clear.28 As the boundaries of England’s sub-national economic
governance and regeneration landscape continue to be redrawn geographically, politically,
institutionally, and across sectoral interests and stakeholders, many questions originally posed
by Pugalis3 remain pertinent but are yet to be answered at this stage. The importance of
collaboration, governance, powers, responsibilities and resources will be crucial to the
efficacy of LEPs and worthy of more detailed investigation in the future.
The spatial injustices of a fractured society of the privileged and dispossessed could
potentially be exacerbated by LEPs, assuming that some will be more powerful and effective
than others or if some localities remain LEP-less in the post-regional landscape. Policies
focussing on enabling the market and responding to opportunities tend to have an unpleasant
track record of silencing marginal communities and actors, whilst benefiting more powerful
interests who tend to shout loudest.2 Considering that geographically rebalancing the
economy is purported to be a major strand of the Coalition’s growth strategy, such a situation
warrants serious political and analytical attention. Perhaps the Con-Libs and others should
have followed the advice of Boris Johnson and ‘looked before they LEPed’.
Page 18 of 20
19. REFERENCES AND NOTES
1. Due to its unique constitutional arrangements a separate process operated in London,
where the Mayor and London boroughs were invited to come forward with LEP proposals by
5 November, 2010, which was subsequently extended.
2. Houghton, J.H., and Blume, T. (2011), 'Poverty, power and policy dilemmas: Lessons
from the community empowerment programme in England'. Journal of Urban Regeneration
and Renewal Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 207-217.
3. Pugalis, L. (2011), 'Sub-national economic development: where do we go from here?'.
Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 255-268.
4. Gudgin, G. (1995), 'Regional problems and policy in the UK'. Oxford Review of
Economic Policy Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 18-63.
5. Pugalis, L., and Townsend, A.R. (2011), 'Rebalancing England: Sub-National
Development (Once Again) at the Crossroads'. Urban Research & Practice Vol. In Press.
6. Cable, V., and Pickles, E. (2010), 'Local enterprise partnerships'. Open letter to Local
Authority Leaders and Business Leaders, HM Government, London.
7. HM Government (2010), 'Local growth: realising every place’s potential'. The
Stationery Office, London.
8. The Regional Growth Fund is expected to provide £580 million capital and £840
million resource funding over the ensuing three years. Open to all parts of England, financial
support is made up of contributions from CLG, the Department for Transport and the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. CLG is the largest contributor,
providing £890 million. The budget allocation for for 2011-12 is £495 million.
9. Pugalis, L. (2011), 'The regional lacuna: a preliminary map of the transition from
Regional Development Agencies to Local Economic Partnerships'. Regions Vol. 281, No.,
pp. 6-9.
10. Pugalis, L. (2010), 'Looking Back in Order to Move Forward: The Politics of
Evolving Sub-National Economic Policy Architecture'. Local Economy Vol. 25, No. 5-6, pp.
397-405.
11. Spelman, C., and Clarke, K. (2010), 'Strengthening local economies'. Open letter to
Conservative MPs, House of Commons, London, pp. 1-4.
12. Communities and Local Government (CLG) (2010), 'Decentralisation and the
Localism Bill: an essential guide'. The Stationery Office, London.
13. HM Treasury (2007), 'Review of sub-national economic development and
regeneration'. HMSO, London.
14. CommunitySense (2010), 'LEPs: the story so far, A survey of 51 Local Authorities by
CommunitySense (Part 1)'. CommunitySense, London.
15. Bentley, G., et al. (2010), 'From RDAs to LEPs: A New Localism? Case Examples of
West Midlands and Yorkshire'. Local Economy Vol. 25, No. 7, pp. 535-557.
16. Dickinson, S. (2011), 'LEPs: puzzle or journey?'. In Local Enterprise Partnerships:
Good Neighbours - Good Outcomes, Evolution Business Centre, Northallerton.
17. HM Treasury (2011), 'Budget 2011'. Stationery Office, London.
18. Jones, A. (2011), 'Zones give teeth to partnerships'. Planning, 21 April, pp. 16-17.
19. Shropshire Chamber of Commerce (2010), 'LEP Survey'. Shropshire Chamber of
Commerce, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.
20. SQW (2010), 'Local Enterprise Partnerships: A new era begins?'. SQW, London.
21. Maugham, C. (2010), 'What will life be like after RDAs?'. Public Servant, 11
October.
22. Meagher, K. (2010), 'Opinion: Talk of RDA 'abolition' is premature'. Regeneration &
Renewal, 6 July.
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20. 23. Finch, D. (2010), 'Most LEP proposals not good enough - Cable'. Vol. Available at:
http://fishburn-hedges.typepad.com/dermot_finch/2010/09/cable-wrigglesworth-lukewarm-
on-leps.html [Accessed on 22 October 2010].
24. Francis, C. (2010), 'Local Enterprise Partnerships: The story so far and relationship
with planning', National Planning Forum, 8 October.
25. Johnson, M., and Schmuecker, K. (2010), 'Four Tests for Local Enterprise
Partnerships'. IPPR North, Newcastle.
26. HM Treasury (2010), 'Spending Review 2010'. The Stationery Office, London.
27. Lee, N., et al. (2010), 'No City Left Behind? The geography of the recovery - and the
implications for the coalition'. The Work Foundation, London.
28. Alongside a London Enterprise Partnership, covering the whole of the capital, the
North London Strategic Alliance (NLSA), representing business interests, public sector
bodies and eight councils, as of March, 2011, was intending to press ahead with their
London-Anglia LEP approach, which was rejected by Government. Despite no formal LEP
recognition, the NLSA contend that London’s economy is so diverse that a single LEP will
not adequately tackle its barriers to growth.
Page 20 of 20