The rescaling of sub-national planning: Can localism resolve England’s spatial planning conundrum?

McGuinness, D.; Mawson, J.

doi:10.3828/tpr.2017.19

The rescaling of sub-national planning: Can localism resolve England’s spatial planning conundrum?

McGuinness, D.; Mawson, J.

Authors

D. McGuinness

J. Mawson

Abstract

This paper analyses the recent reorganisation of sub-national planning in England. The abrupt termination in 2010 of regional spatial strategies (RSSs) left England as the only major country in north-western Europe without effective sub-national governance structures (outside London) for spatial planning. Drawing on in-depth interviews with public-sector planners and other research material, this paper analyses the impacts of the demise of regional planning for ‘larger-than-local’ policy coordination in England. The paper seeks to question whether localism can succeed where regionalism is perceived to have failed in dealing effectively with the strategic spatial dilemmas integral to planning. It concludes by assessing whether the evolving decentralised forms of sub-national governance (combined authorities and local enterprise partnerships (LEPs)) emerging through the government’s ‘devolution revolution’ can develop to fill the current strategic planning void and resurrect some form of spatial planning throughout England.

Citation

McGuinness, D., & Mawson, J. (2017). The rescaling of sub-national planning: Can localism resolve England’s spatial planning conundrum?. Town Planning Review, 88(3), 283-303. https://doi.org/10.3828/tpr.2017.19

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jul 25, 2016
Online Publication Date	May 1, 2017
Publication Date	May 1, 2017
Deposit Date	Jul 28, 2016
Publicly Available Date	May 1, 2018
Journal	Town Planning Review
Print ISSN	0041-0020
Electronic ISSN	1478-341X
Publisher	Liverpool University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	88
Issue	3
Pages	283-303
DOI	https://doi.org/10.3828/tpr.2017.19
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1400236