Strategic Planning for Regional Development in the UK

Harry T. Dimitriou, Robin Thompson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781134273171
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Urban Planning & Landscaping

With contributions from leading academics and practitioners, Strategic Planning for Regional Development in the UK is the most up-to-date treatment of a fast-changing subject.

The book discusses:

• The evolution of regional planning in the UK and the strategic thinking involved
• The spatial implications of regional economic development policies
• The methods and techniques needed for the implementation of strategic planning for regional development
• How strategic planning for regional development is currently put into practice in three UK regions with different priorities.

Strategic Planning for Regional Development in the UK is essential reading for students and academics working within strategic and regional planning and provides policy makers and practitioners with a comprehensive and thought provoking introduction to this critically important emerging field.

Part 1
Setting the context

1
Introduction

Harry T. Dimitriou and Robin Thompson

Background

Strategic and regional planning has enjoyed a strong revival in recent years, both in the UK and in Europe as a whole. That revival has brought a demand for relevant knowledge and skills, which are in very short supply. This book contains a set of contributions from eminent authors: it responds to the renewed interest in these issues and the need to raise awareness of them.

At its simplest, strategic planning is the exercise of a systematic, integrated approach to policy making which takes full account of context, resources and the long term. It has its origins in military decision making and has tended to be developed more rigorously in corporate business than in public sector planning. Regional planning takes place in between the national and the local level. The book particularly evaluates regional planning policy as a form of strategic spatial planning.

A number of powerful drivers of change have generated a revived interest in the value of strategic and regional planning in the UK. These drivers all operate beyond the local level and require a policy response at a higher spatial level. They include globalisation of the economy, concerns about climate change, concerns about security, rapid advances in communications, advanced information technologies and increased migration. The challenges these powerful drivers create can be responded to at the regional level in a sufficiently strategic form. At the same time the regional level is seen to be closer and more sensitive to the local context than national government.

Both the European Union (EU) and the UK government have placed greater emphasis upon regional planning as a vehicle for longer-term and more strategic decision making in recent years. They have also promoted spatial planning, which embraces territorial policy for a much wider range of sectors in an integrated approach than does land-use planning. The greater policy range of spatial planning makes it very compatible with the comprehensive processes of strategic planning. A significant example of the promotion of these approaches is the recent legislation in England that has established regional spatial strategies (RSSs) as key statutory documents which are designed to draw together strategic and spatial planning at the regional level.

One general theme through the book is the cyclical nature of the application of both strategic planning and regional government. Both played an important role during and after the Second World War and then suffered something of a decline until a renaissance in the 1960s. They subsequently experienced a systematic dismantling by the Thatcher government before being reinvigorated in the past decade. One consequence of this lack of continuity is the absence of well-established institutions and of a strong cadre of qualified professionals in the UK. Central government in Britain has strengthened the institutions of regional government. It has assisted in the production of this book as a means of regenerating interest and skills in strategic and regional planning. The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has also placed strategic and spatial planning at the heart of its own mission statement for the profession. A number of universities are responding to the need to build capacity in these areas, and the book will contribute to this effort.

Structure of the book

A key feature of this publication is the unifying framework that underpins its content, which attempts to highlight three elements throughout: underlying concepts; main issues and challenges; and planning methods/techniques and mechanisms. The overall remit of the book is addressed through a set of chapters organised in five parts.¹

We use Part 1 to set the context of the book: Sir Peter Hall considers the evolution of strategic planning and regional development in the UK, and Mark Tewdwr-Jones and Philip Allmendinger look at regional institutions, including the major changes made by the Blair government. Part 2 examines the theories and principles underlying strategic and regional planning, including Harry Dimitriou’s review of the disciplines and theories of strategic planning thought, which were initially developed in the military and the corporate sectors. This part also contains a contribution by the editors on the importance of context in strategic and regional planning, while Chris Yewlett discusses the development of operational research (OR)-based methodologies of strategic choice in planning in the production of plans. Part 3 highlights selective substantive components of regional economics and strategic planning: Peter Roberts looks at the post-war history of regional economic development policy; Roger Vickerman considers transport policy at the regional level; and Ivan Turok considers the evolution of labour market policy. Part 4 outlines selected methods and techniques of regional analysis in key sectors: land-use/transport tools are examined by David Simmonds and David Banister, housing projections and allocation by Nick Gallent and sustainability assessment by John Glasson. Part 5 provides an insight into the practice of current strategic and regional planning in the UK through selected case studies: Robin Thompson examines the policy tensions in and between the three regions of the wider South East; Paul S. Benneworth and Geoff Vigar look at the relatively strong regional identity of the North East and its disadvantaged position in national policy; Gwyndaf Williams and Mark Baker review the sometimes troubled development of regional policy in the North West; and Vincent Goodstadt provides an example of the different approach in Scotland, where Glasgow and Clyde Valley offers a good example of inter-agency collaboration. The final chapter, “Conclusions”, seeks to draw out from the preceding discussions common concepts, reoccurring issues and challenges, and generic methods, techniques and mechanisms that promote the advancement of this mode of planning practice.

Spatial planning and strategic and regional planning

Explaining what constitutes the nature and content of strategic and regional planning in the UK is very much the raison d’être of this book and will be elaborated by the authors. As a starting point, however, we wish to reinforce here Steiner’s claim (cited in Chapter 4) that strategic planning is not merely a process of forecasting and subsequently determining what should be done to assure the fulfilment of these forecasts or the execution of a blueprint for the future (Steiner 1997). It is instead a particular type of planning that seeks to “join up” major goals, policies and actions into a cohesive entity that follows well-formulated efforts at marshalling and allocating resources into a viable planned response to a set of challenges, undertaken following a critical appreciation of competencies and shortcomings, as well as anticipated changes in the context(s) in which the strategy is formulated (Quinn 1995).

We view regional planning as a particularly complex form of strategic spatial planning, operating at a level between the national and local. Concurring with Albrechts, we see such planning as public sector led, concerned with social space and intended to influence the future distribution of activities in space through the adoption of a planning process “through which a vision, actions, and means for implementation are produced that shape and frame what a place is and may become” (2004:746).

We understand regional planning is typically undertaken to tackle three major challenges: overcoming regional disparities, enhancing economic effectiveness, and providing effective regional planning guidance. We see a fourth rapidly coming to the forefront: namely, the environmental and climate-change challenge (see Hillman and Fawcett 2004; and RSPB and RTPI 2005), which Glasson sees as best met strategically at the regional level. Hall views strategic planning as providing a “balance” between urban regeneration and efforts at decentralisation. Roberts distinguishes between regional planning that is economic in nature, which tends to be at the national–regional interface, and regional planning that is spatial and more physical in nature, which typically operates more at the regional–local interface.

Drivers of change and components of strategic and regional planning

Strategic drivers of change

Regional developments both in recent years and in the prospective future have been/will be stimulated and affected by a number of powerful “strategic drivers of change”. Discussed throughout the book by various contributors, these include:

• The importance of globalisation and the tendency for decision making in regional planning to operate at higher spatial levels and for global competition to require more “internationally” collaborative regions, as particularly highlighted by Tewdwr-Jones and Allmendinger, Dimitriou and Thompson, and Turok (in Chapters 3, 5 and 9, respectively).

• The movement toward greater decentralisation of government and the associated attempt to reawaken and/or generate new senses of regional identity, as especially emphasised by Tewdwr-Jones and Allmendinger, and Roberts (in Chapters 3 and 7, respectively), and the authors of Chapters 13–15.

• The increasing perceived need for strong public intervention to address market inefficiencies and externalities, poor economic performance, and social inclusion and justice, as particularly discussed by Dimitriou and Thompson, Vickerman, Turok, and Gallent (in Chapters 5, 8, 9 and 11, respectively).

• The engagement of private sector interest in strategic and regional planning and the “new regionalism”, as especially highlighted by Tewdwr-Jones and Allmendinger, Dimitriou, Dimitriou and Thompson, Vickerman, and Turok (in Chapters 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9, respectively).

Spatial planning as the overarching concept

The discussion and analysis of strategic and regional planning which follow take place within an overarching concept of spatial planning undertaken with the aim of its sponsors “to create a more ‘rational’ territorial organisation of land uses and the linkages between them” (ESPON 2005:1). In the European Community, this vision is moulded by three fundamental aims: economic competitiveness; sustainable development; and coherence of the European continent. These are in turn reinforced by the key principles/visions of: “the pursuit of a more balanced and polycentric urban system; the parity of access to infrastructure and knowledge; and the wise management and sustainable development of Europe’s natural and cultural heritage” (ESPON 2005:5).

Strategic planning for regional development is strongly associated with schools of thought concerned about sustainable development and the need to think in the longer term and a more holistic fashion, as particularly emphasised by Glasson, Yewlett, Dimitriou, and Dimitriou and Thompson. It is also associated with the concept of collaborative planning and the use of partnerships as advocated by Healey (1997) and others, as especially discussed here by Tewdwr-Jones and Allmendinger and in the case study chapte...

Table of contents

• The Natural and Built Environment Series
• Contents
• Notes on contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Part 1 Setting the context
• Part 2 Theories and principles of strategic and regional planning
• Part 3 Regional economics and strategic planning
• Part 4 Methods and techniques of regional analysis
• Part 5 Strategic and regional planning in practice
• Index