Nigel Spence

Evolution of the motorway network and changing levels of accessibility in Great Britain

Abstract The long-term role of road transport infrastructure in promoting, maintaining and developing the economic system is an important one which has received relatively little research attention. The road network supports a variety of dependent economic activity and serves to integrate the economic system over space. More specifically the enhancement of the motorway network over the years in Britain will have affected the accessibility surface of the nation. This paper considers accessibility changes between the components of the urban system which are the result of postwar motorway construction. Three accessibility surfaces are considered based on various stages in the motorway building programme. A standard market potential accessibility measure is used to capture those accessibility changes which are due to the motorway effect over various periods of time and those which are due to the employment effect. The calculations are founded on the travel modes of cars and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) based on a generalized measure of cost impedance. The results are presented for the familiar set of 19 local labour market area types based on some 280 functional urban regions and for the 11 Standard Regions based on some 852 amalgamated jobcentre office areas.

British employment in the eighties : the spatial, structural and compositional change of the workforce

Introduction. Changing distribution of employment and labour force participation. Deindustrialisation: the changing fortunes of manufacturing employment. The expansion of the service economy. Conclusions.

Employment and worktravel in a selection of English inner cities

Abstract The inner parts of many of the western worlds metropolitan areas are currently suffering such drastic decline that many governments are attempting to rejuvenate their economic fortunes This is the context in which the present study is set, focusing attention on five major English cities — London, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham and Leicester — and using census employment and worktravel data for small areas. The study first reports on the relationships between the skills offered by residents, both male and female, and those demanded by employers in inner city areas. In addition to the consideration of the detailed variety of manufacturing and servicing activities taking place, an examination of the office and non-office components of both is undertaken. The second main aspect of the study considers the patterns of worktravel movement linking the places of residence and workplaces so described. The research concludes with a view on the policy implications of the results in the light of the overall context of the rejuvenation of inner city areas.

Regional policy in Great Britain

Abstract Recent policy initiatives for the inner cities and regions of Britain were reviewed in the context of the continued and deepening processes of metropolitan decentralisation of population and economic activity and of regional divergence in levels of economic well-being. The result is a policy focus on those areas considered as being on the margins of economic viability. Research evaluating past policy indicates only modest potential for the success of such a focus. Policies having a growth stimulation objective may be better centred outside these most marginal areas. Policies having a welfare objective may achieve greater efficiency if they have no particular spatial dimension.

Cost‐benefit appraisal of the industrial areas programme in Greece: Aims, methodologies and assumptions

Abstract The Industrial Areas Programme in Greece aims to promote and propagate industrial activity in targeted regions. The policy mainly provides for the acquisition of industrial land and the development of the public infrastructure and has been operational since 1968. The objectives of this research are to evaluate the cost‐effectiveness of this policy in terms of the stated aims. Cost‐benefit methods are used to compare the likely outcomes of the policy in the light of the resources deployed. The research illustrates the variety in performance levels that individual projects achieve but concludes overall that the programme has been more than worthwhile. This paper deals with the objectives of the study and how they are to be achieved.