Alexander Nurse

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

Between 2004 and 2010 local area agreements (LAAs) represented a key part of the New Labour Governments agenda for local government in England, which centred on increasing the level of involvement that local areas had in the issues affecting them. To deliver this agenda, New Labour deployed government offices for the regions (GOR) to negotiate with localities on behalf of central government. As part of a broader consideration of the role of regional governance structures in delivering local public services, this paper draws upon the results of a national survey of LAA practitioners in England, and findings from more detailed case study work, to consider the role of GOR in the LAA process. These findings examine the role GOR played in negotiating LAA targets and the extent to which these negotiations allowed local areas to respond to local issues and priorities. Then, by considering local enterprise partnerships and the recently established combined authorities, the paper will consider how localism policy under the Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition government, who came to power in 2010, has responded to the lessons of the LAA. In doing so, the paper seeks to fit into the wider discussion about how local public services can be delivered effectively and draw out the challenges faced by those trying to link local and central policy together.

Creating the north from the sum of its parts? Research questions to assess the Northern Powerhouse

In late 2014, Chancellor George Osborne announced ambitious plans for the creation of a ‘Northern Powerhouse’ which would see cities taking control over a greater number of functions in exchange for installing new democratic arrangements. This paper explores those plans and in doing so outlines a number of questions that will be of interest to researchers. This focuses on a number of issues including the ability to develop coherent regional success by fostering city region level development, the governance model of a directly elected executive mayor and how this will work on a practical basis, and the city-level democratisation of key services including health provision.

Delivering strategic economic development in a time of urban austerity: European Union structural funds and the English city regions:

Supranational funding such as that from the European Union has become a key ingredient of the economic development of many major cities. Set across comparatively short time frames, these schemes are constantly evaluated and realigned to reflect current priorities, becoming increasingly competitive as cities deploy every strategy available to mitigate the effects of urban austerity. In the United Kingdom, European Union funding is currently allocated through a multi-level structure involving the state, subregional structures and cities, all conforming to supranational (i.e. European Union) guidelines. Considering this, this paper explores the extent to which funds such as the European Regional Development Fund can be effectively drawn down to focus upon issues deemed to be locally important. The paper achieves this through a case study of policy making in Liverpool, United Kingdom which, having successfully used Objective One funding to support an economic recovery in the 1990–00s, is now fully engaged with European Regional Development Fund agendas. In doing so, the paper explores how successful European Regional Development Fund-funded schemes are developed, drawing out the experiences of key stakeholders working at each level of the funding process. This allows for a reflection on the effects of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union and, moreover, makes a series of policy recommendations as to how future funding strategies might be improved.