‘Regions Out—Sub-regions In’—Can Sub-regional Planning Break the Mould? The View from England

Abstract

A number of fundamental concerns have been raised over the recent abolition of regional economic and planning institutions processes and associated plans and strategies in England. In particular, questions have arisen over the strength and democratic accountability of the new arrangements emerging at a sub-regional scale-namely local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) that as yet have neither legal powers nor any formal planning role. Consequently, this article critically assesses the role, provenance and value of the abolished regional institutions together with the parallel criticisms. It also examines the potential for LEPs as their replacement and to develop into democratically accountable, locally self-determined strategic planning bodies.

Positioning regional planning across Europe

“…In practice they do this by using existing institutional frameworks through combined authorities (e.g., in Greater Manchester) or by forming so-called local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) (Cowie et al, 2016b;McGuinness & Mawson, 2017). However, LEPs are characterized as soft spaces that lack democratic legitimacy and clarity about their roles in the planning system, and due to their non-mandatory character they create institutional voids and fragmentation in the coverage of sub-national planning (McGuinness & Mawson, 2017;Morphet & Pemberton, 2013).…”

“…The fact that the institutional context of regional planning has changed in recent years further contributes to these differences, as will be discussed below. In a few cases, this has resulted in weakening its political significance and its practical relevance (Galland, 2012;Morphet & Pemberton, 2013). In addition, in research and practice, interest in 'formal' regional planning seems to have faded in conjunction with the emergence of more informal and strategic approaches that follow a rather flexible network-based governance logic (ARL -Academy for Spatial Research and Planning, 2011;Foster, 2010;van Straalen & Witte, 2018).…”

Bridging the Gap? The Role of Regional Governance in Delivering Effective Local Public Services: Evidence from England

“…At the fore of these reforms came LEPs, brought forth in 2010, to draw together local authority and business leaders to 'provide the strategic leadership in their areas to set out local economic priorities' (CLG, 2010a). Referencing the belief that neither local authority boundaries, nor regional constructs, were analogous to the functional economic geography of a locality (Cheshire & Magrini, 2009;Morphet & Pemberton, 2013), these new LEP structures encouraged neighbouring authorities to collaborate. This resulted in the formation of 39 LEPs, with 5 LEPs being formed in the area formerly occupied by Government Office North West.…”

“…To further explore these themes, and to place the findings within current debates, the paper also considers recent movements under the UK Coalition Government, which since 2010 have overseen a shift away from regional governance towards mechanisms operating at the sub-regional scale, including Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and, most recently, Combined Authorities (Bentley et al, 2010;Pugalis, 2010;Morphet & Pemberton, 2013). Much like LAAs, these new mechanisms afforded localities control over a host of service delivery functions, as well as granting more strategic powers on issues of urban regeneration than their predecessors.…”

Sub-regional strategic spatial planning: the use of statecraft and scalecraft in delivering the English model

“…While there has been considerable regret about the passing of regional spatial planning by those formerly engaged at planning at this scale (Pike et al 2016;Boddy and Hickman, 2013), there has been no obvious successor other than these new combined authorities (Baker and Wong, 2013;Morphet and Pemberton, 2013) although some have called for the replacement of regional plans (Swain 2013).…”